Imaginary Love Ballads

(Words and music by Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

So hand me a stone
To carve in my name
My final surrender
Is joining the game
The rules of exclusion
No longer my pain
To love and be loved
They are not the same

Burning my eyes on
Your aura of fire
Filling my soul with
A secret desire
Run from the moment
My feelings denied
My loneliness wins
Its spoils of pride
My loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness wins

Witness the masters
Performing their craft
Read from a script
Anybody can act
They star on your stage
In their Saturday masks
When they want love
They need only to ask

Capturing you in the web
We have spun
Targeting your heart
The feast has begun
Run from the moment
My feelings denied
A smile on my lips while
I’m bleeding inside
I’m bleeding
I’m bleeding
I’m bleeding to death

So hand me a stone
To carve in my name
My final surrender
Is playing this game
The rules of exclusion
No longer to blame
To love and be loved
Could they all be the same?

Burning my eyes
On your aura of fire
Filling my soul with
The sweetest desire
Run from the moment
My feelings denied
Run from the moment
It’s easy to hide
Run from the moment
Run from the moment
Running forever

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

Like satin sheets are movies
As I move away
The air is soft and soothing
The sun shines every day
Look through an open window
At a star filled sky
Closing my eyes to sigh, I know
I can’t say goodbye

This house has been my home but
It won’t be anymore

One day this house is boxed up
My life that used to be
Soon the house will be locked up
And I’ll turn in my key
Like robots signing yearbooks
We wish each other well
Next year, they’ll be all seniors
Next year I spend in hell

These friends I called my own but
I won’t call anymore

I’m leaving
I’m moving
The future’s out of my hands
And I’m leaving

And when the final days come
With my best friend
Sitting in stifled silence
Neither one can pretend
Gripping the wheel tersely
Away I slowly drive
And though I try fiercely
I just cannot cry

This city is all I‘ve known but
I won’t know anymore

I’m leaving
I’m moving
I hated this place so long
Now I’m grieving
I’m flying
And I’m dying
No, I don’t want to go
Inside I’m crying
Inside

(Words by Todd Whisler
Music by Todd Whisler and Don Currie)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

Babe, we’ve come a long way
But we’ve got a long way to go
It’d be a lie if I were to say
I’m not scared of what the future holds

And sometimes I get to thinking
In this world that changes so
What if we lose what we have now
We can worry but never know

When you take me in your arms
And we dance all night long
When the morning shines on us
Oh
When you say you love me
I believe you

The seas ahead won’t always be calm
In our search for what is true
But if we trust in our friendship
Then our love will pull us through

I can’t promise you excitement
The places we visit may be few
Because you see you’re all the flame I need
When we touch the passion is true

Sometimes in the cold and dark
When we are miles apart
I think of all the waste I’ve seen
Living for what might have been
I know it can happen to us
Thoughts of loss and mistrust
Fanning flames of jealousy
And kill our love ultimately
Only when we’re miles apart
When loneliness invades my heart

(Words and Music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

All of her life in a
Bottle
Imprisonment that no one
Can understand
She’s had enough of this
Dull life
Now it’s time for her
To take command
Dreams that have gone without
Substance
Shackled so deeply
Within her head
Life in a world full of
Imbeciles
Wanting only
To share her bed

Everybody watching over her
Afraid that she might break
But she broke a long time ago
How easy to fake

Then she doesn’t
Up for work
Never once thought
To call in sick
Everyone is
Astounded
For a second
Then forgets about it
Smiles as she drives
Down the freeway
Into her new life
That’s so unsure
Only hers to
Live and die in
That’s the only thing
She knows for sure

All of the people holding her
Keep on the right path
Never mind your silly dreams
Burn her up with wrath

She was born to take risks
Back there, she had none
Her life was like a robot’s
She was as good as gone
So tired of living
A complacent life
Everybody’s telling her
Soon she’d be my wife

It’s not easy or secure
Her life won’t be charmed
She has no home
She has no job
And better off by far

They won’t think so but we all know
She’s all grown up

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

Shadows on my door
Like these times before
Lying here alone
Thinking of your love that’s gone

Well, I don’t have your love to win
I may not find love again

But I’m not gonna cry anymore
No, I’m not gonna cry anymore

Tears have filled my nights
(Not a choice I want to make
No clear path for me to take)
As cold as neon lights
Choices I must make
(Can a lie become the truth
Passing between me and you)
Paths that I had to forsake

I gave you!

Well, I gave you all I had but
It wasn’t enough
And those who’ve seen me crying
Know that I’m not that tough
I can’t live in the past, but
Why couldn’t it have lasted?

I’ve cried enough
Don’t you hear me?

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

I love you
In so many ways
That it’s hard
For me to pass the days
Alone
Without you
Alone
Always wondering why

Yes, I love you
In so many ways
That I’m asking
For some other ways
To get through
Into you
Just to get through
Is what I want to do

You don’t know me
I guess you never will
‘Cause you won’t take the time
To look and see what I will
‘Cause I know, yes I know
That you don’t know me
But I know my intentions are true

Well, it’s not that much
What I’m asking for
Just the opportuntiy
To show you some more
Than the skin on my face
Can reveal
‘Cause I know what I have is real

I won’t pretend
I haven’t been a clown
And as the sophisticate
I know you’ve been around
But you love and you laugh
And you bleed like all the rest
So won’t you let me pass your test

Well, I don’t want to be
What I am not
But I don’t like it
Not having what you’ve got
‘Cause it’s so important
Can’t you look inside and see?

That I love you
In so many ways
That it’s getting so hard
For me to pass the days
‘Cause I know, yes I know
Deep down inside
That you are not mine

(Words by Todd Whisler
Music by Todd Whisler & Doug Floyd)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

In this world of
Carnal pleasure
Orgies by the score
We have no use for
Any morals
Leave them by the door
Giving in to your
Hidden pleasures
Don’t hide anymore
Common sense and
Understanding
What are those things for?
Simple pleasures
And mass production
Keeps them satisfied
Pornographic
Reputation
Seduces their minds

We have conquered
The unwilling
They stand idly by
Mass production
Is so easy
Simply longing sighs

This is not your
World for taking
The mistakes
That you’ve been making
You have all been superseded
Classified and then mistreated
Turn your back and ask for more
For we are your new power core
We are your new power

No more public
Demonstrations
And now you sit at home
Subdued by our
Cablevision
Fragmented and alone
We invoke a
Feeding frenzy
With sexual tones
Only slightly
Pornographic
Manufactured moans
Sitting naked
Masturbating
Pleasure through your palms
Too afraid of
One another
To do us any harm

There’s no formal
Institution
Of marriage anymore
Too much fuss and
Too much bother
For the power core

We lead bloodless revolutions
Against all those institutions
Once we achieved all your needs
You were lulled to complacency
To conquer we declared no war
We are your new power core
You’ve lost your maturity
And your own humanity
Unfair, you say?
Were that so
You’d have fought us
Long ago
You’re all in love with
Being bored
You’ve made us your power core
You’ve made us your power core

The power core!

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

The night is cold and the
Wind blows on forever
I walk the streets alone
This is life in November
The moon is glowing
As it’s on the rise
The subtle signs are showing
Passion burning
In your eyes

Around me, the rain is falling
Soon it will turn to snow
Winter’s chill is calling
And I really should go
But I have nowhere to run to
No place where I can hide
I’ve got no one to talk to
And nothing warm inside

Sometimes I wish I had
A photograph to remember
The love I shared with you
This past life in November
Maybe it was all a lie
As you so often say
We never even tried
The cold got in our way

And now I’ve lost the feeling
That kept me warm so long
I’ve got nothing to heal me
I can’t even go on
I held life in my hands
Just another pretender
The wind blows on the land
How I hate life in November

No!  Don’t you leave me hungry
Because it’s such a waste
No!  You can’t live with that day
I can’t live with hate
You’re lying to yourself
But don’t you lie to me
Stop playing kiss and tell
And other games I don’t need
You know I know your game
Even though I don’t show it
Because we’re both the same
And we both know it
Well I look into your eyes
And you can’t turn away
Why don’t you stop the lies?
We know that you want to stay

Please stay with me
I’ve been lonely for too long
Stay with me
You don’t want to go home
I know you don’t want to go

Stay with me, oh

The snow began to fall
When we split last December
And now we’re making love
This is life in November

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

Space rider on loan
Boot straps
Ready to roll
Bandana
Crushed ice
The nicest vice in paradise

Hot fever
Cool head
Slow roller
In a flatbed
Keen vision
Out of sight
Keep the heat
I’m up all night

Check the space rider he’s on loan
A secret laughter all his own
Our private world is never shown
The space rider is on loan

No time for
Lame ducks
If it’s easy
It sucks
Low power
High hand
A jamming man in a rocking band

Night driving
More speed
Silk shirts
The dude is me
Sunglasses
In the rain
Your loss
Is his gain

I won’t lie
I’m impressed
Black shirt
White vest
A streetlight
A dead phone
The space rider
Is on loan

(Words and music by Leyth Mulla & Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

What a perfect morning
What a glorious day
Now my fear of loving
Has gone away
Not what I’d imagined
Better than a dream
It was the fear of losing
Any part of me

Many nights of wishes
Never once came true
Many years of yearning
For someone like you
What a perfect morning
What a glorious day
Now my fear of loving
Has gone away

For I have found someone
Who makes me feel alive
At last I can move forward
Now that love has arrived

What a perfect morning
What a glorious day
Now my my fear of loving
Has gone away

A song
Love is like a song
That plays in your head
All day long
Your words are the lyrics
Your smile is the key
Your heartbeat is the tempo
Your voice, the melody
It rises up to an apex
Before crashing back down
Picks itself off the pavement
Smiles and looks around
It’s sad, it’s mad it’s glad
Just like music should be
All we need is one moment
Of such clarity

Carolyn loved the space rider on loan in so many ways that she ran from the moment when he shot her down so she wouldn’t cry anymore.  Meanwhile, living in November, the power grew up loving the song that said goodbye to the lights of home and to all love ballads; imaginary or otherwise.

This is the song that I wrote
This is my song for you
Do you think I’ve misspoken
Are the lies now not true?

Hold me close
Hold me tight
As my love grows
When the
Moment is right
The feeling flows

For I have found someone
Who makes me feel alive
At last life can move forward
Now that love has arrived

What a perfect morning
What a glorious day
Now my fear of loving
Has gone away
Not what I’d imagined
Better than a dream
It was the fear of loving
It was everything
It was the fear of me

(Words and music by Todd Whisler, Charles Gooden and Travis Roberts)
Taken from the album Imaginary Love Ballads © 2014

I’m alone
Without you
Because it’s been
So very long

And now
With the lights of my home gleaming off in the distance, I
I wonder how I got so far from my home
So far
So far
So far

And now
With the lights of my home gleaming off the freeway, I
Have time to look back and see all that I’ve lost

And now
Night is falling on the city and I’ve got to go but I
I won’t forget you, girl, nor the time that we have shared
Together
Together
As one

Well, I drive too fast
It’s not where I want to be
But I just can’t fight
My destiny

It’s been so long
Since I was human
And I’ve forgotten
How

Wish me good luck as I go home

And now
My life is all that I have to show for it
But it’s gold
It’s gold
It’s gold
Pure gold