Nolan McKelvey

Singer/Songwriter/Musician

The Perfect Crime

The waves rise in silence and cautiously climb
cresting and crashing on the shoreline
our footsteps are washing away with tides
erasing the evidence of the perfect crime

You and I witness the murderous waves
ebbing over our feet like spilled champagne
eroding the earth as we fall further in
to the sand and the stars again and again

Beneath the wake of evening light
in your embrace as the waters rise
shapes in the shadows holding on tight 

deep in the depths of summer night

Chorus:

I’m drowning in you night after night
the moon lights up the scene of the perfect crime

The voice in the shell tells tales of lore
of sunken ships and searching souls
of secret lovers and treasure troves
carried over the waves from distant shores

Brazen waves and breathing sands
we meditate on the sound of the crash
the moon shinin’ up over our heads
you’re holding me close no S. O. S.

Chorus

The stars are scrolling into the sea
as dawn rolls amber over the east
there’s nothing left of you and me
silhouettes in the sand and memories

Chorus

The Decider

The sentinel stands outside the chamber door
inside the president is pacing the floor
while all the advisors are wringing their hands
and selling the hill on their sinister plans

The tension mounts in the public eye
but this can be framed so that he never lied
it was misinformation it was bad intelligence
for the good of the nation we attack in defense

Chorus:

Gluttony fuels the oil-envy machine
we’re waging a war with wrath and with greed
apathy aligned with wanton pride
behind the sins of the doctrine lies the decider 

As he steps to the podium and clears his throat
repeating himself as they pass him a note
no further questions the statements’ been read
everything to say’s already been said

chorus

I Can't Disguise

There are so many people out there bound by proof
they can’t imagine what we’ve got they only know one truth
some things I know and I don’t claim to be wise
but science can’t explain what I’m seein’ in your eyes

When the moonlight’s shinin’ down upon your face
and I reach out with my hand to tuck your hair back into place
behind your ear so you can hear me describe
what they can’t explain darlin’ and I can’t disguise 

I’m an open book no need to read between the lines 

Chorus:

They can’t explain what I can’t disguise
what I can’t disguise

Just like how I knew that our lives were tied
on the night that we met you know the stars were aligned
my mind was racin’ and my heart began to rise
but they can’t explain darlin’ what I can’t disguise

I’ve got everything to lose I’ve got nothing to hide
but science can’t explain what I’m seein’ in your eyes

chorus 

I’m an open book no need to read between the lines
cuz science can’t explain what I’m seein’ in your eyes

chorus

Michigan

I left Michigan when I was just seventeen
a bad case of wanderlust had been grippin’ me
I didn’t know any better I didn’t know anything
I just wanted out of there the whole world to see

Chorus:
It’s always rain that reminds me of you
I tried to run but I always knew
whenever my heart catches up to my brain
it’s always rainin it’s always rain always rain

I never cried wolf I never cried at all
when I boarded that plane I was standin’ tall
I still see you through the window leanin against the wall
your head in your hands as the raindrops fall

Chorus

There’s thunderclouds movin’ in from the east
and the storm is rising inside of me
it sent me spinning in a flood of memory
since I left Michigan I been lost at sea

Chorus
(rain rain fade away another monsoon summer day

a thundercloud a lightening strike can’t chase the memory from my mind)

Dust Bowl Blues

I won this martin box on an ace and a queen
in Hooverville we had time to kill before I left the city

I packed it up on that steam engine rode it out across the plains on a train
hoping for a new beginning 

Chorus:

Out here with the dust bowl blues
way out here with the dust bowl blues

The west was full of dreamers and thieves
the grapes of wrath in the aftermath of the crash of the century
the government sent out the C.C.C.
buildin’ dams and roads from coast-to-coast
for the land of opportunity 

Chorus

Cowboys and hands ranchers and senoritas
gold panners and saddle tanners sprouting up like manzanita
after the war a man can’t find his peace
there’s just idle hands and indian lands and swingin’ doors and tumbleweeds 

Chorus

Weathervane

You were born to be a storm
your heart is cold but your words are warm
when they collide you give it all away
the look in your eye is all you have to say

Chorus:

And your crestfallen rain
is comin’ round again
you’re spinnin’ in
a hurricane
weathervane

So you fly above the Irish Sea
far away from all it is you’ve been
the past will face you as you turn into the shore
the mists embrace you up on the cliffs of Moher

Chorus

Twilight

Twilight the night is young
the record’s spinnin’ our favorite song
a bottle of wine and you
in the twilight

Day is for work night is for dreams
my favorite time I is the time in-between
with my arms around you
in the twilight

Chorus:

Lyin’ late on a stormy spring morning
kicking leaves on an autumn afternoon
stars shinin’ bright on a white winter night
can’t hold a candle to twilight with you

In summertime when days are long
the moon will rise before the setting sun
as we stroll along
in the twilight

Chorus

As years go by and memories fade

I’ll never forget the love that we made
at the end of our days with you
in the twilight

Now That I Found You

Girl I fell for you oh so long ago
It left me longing blue with nothing to show

But the image in my mind of the day that we first met
the one’s we leave behind are the one’s that we regret

Chorus:

Now that I found you I won’t let you go:

My aim is true just like Costello
now that I found you I wanted you to know

That the years have been so kind no you haven’t changed a bit
after all this time there is no way I could forget 

Chorus

A Ripple on the Water

Tide is low the water’s still
a misty mornin’ on beacon hill
last night’s rage gave way to the calm
fed everything and broke the dawn

Chorus:

Spinnin’ globe and the ebb and the flow
it’s all connected intrinsicly
every stone that we cast makes a little splash
a ripple on the water can turn into a storm

The wind in the leaves had us on our knees
prayin’ while water’s soakin’ seeds
one little seed turns into a grove
turns into another when the seeds are sowed

Chorus

You and me we answer the call
seeds in the spring harvest in the fall
after the flood at the end of the rain
there’s fertile ground we can grow anything

Fallen Star

She’s livin’ a dream as the day turns dark
and the eastern sky fills up with stars
she left her mark where she used to shine
she’s got the scars there to remind her

Chorus:

She’s a fallen star
forever in flight
searching the dark
every night

She fills up with hope when she goes to sleep
over and over the pattern repeats
points of light form constellations
shapes in the night become destinations

Chorus

In her dreams she’s going home
when the moonlight strokes the stone
she’s embraced by arms that hold her
and lift her up where she belongs

Chorus