To Be A Star

(Words and music by Todd Whisler and Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

To be a star

People all around the world
Are you listening
To the sounds that surround us
In mystery?
Are you alone tonight
Would you like to be
Lost in the massive crowd that
Hears but cannot feel?

The magic of music
This magical music

To be a star

Lift your head from this disguise
See and be seen
Now the moment has arrived
To chase the dream
We’ll dedicate this night
And all it brings
To the feeling that means more
Than anything

The magic of music
This magical music
The magic of music
This magical music
This magical music

To be a star

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

Garbage on the airwaves
Falling on deaf ears
Endless repetition
Cycles through the years

Every station on the dial
Sounds the same to me
Nonstop talkers
Celebrity stalkers
Is this our legacy?

The death of radio
The death of radio
So many years ago
But no one seems to know

Blame it on the 80s
This deplorable state
Playlists and promotions
Keep driving in the stake

You can sign a record deal
And think your dreams have come true
Until you find they’ve bled you dry
Without even noticing you

Once, long ago
When I was young
Music was magical
And fun
Looking back I see
I was easily deceived

Every station on the dial
Sounds the same to me
Nonstop talkers
Celebrity stalkers
For all eternity

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

You write a song for recreation
To celebrate the gift of song
Take some time to record it
Send it out, it won’t be long

You know it’s not a great creation
You know it’s not a symphony
It won’t make the Top 40 or
Musical history

But when you’re told you’re wasting talent
And it’s all been done before
You try to hide behind denial
Behind your anger and your scorn

Words so laced in arsenic
Self-indulgent rhetoric
Misdirected self-regret
Ignorant and arrogant
Nothing can escape your eye
The metaphor that you imply
Waste not, want no, wonder why
Your gifted and your twisted mind

If I took stock of your life’s story
And all the things that we’ve been through
Would I choose to call it friendship?
Am I proud of knowing you?
No, it’s not a great creation
I know it’s not a symphony
But it’s something I was feeling
And it’s something I believe

So you ask them for examples
If this is so easily done
Show me how the rhyme is written
Show me how the song is sung
If the words are always awkward
In my stolen melodies
If I’m trapped in the music
Of the 1970s

But there never is an answer
If they knew, would they tell you
Or sit safely in silent places
And rip apart all that you with

(Words and music by Todd Whisler, Vicki Tama and Jim Pavett)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

This is the last time
I’m going to sing for you
This is the last time
Now that I’ve found the truth
For too many years, now
I’ve held on to the dream
Only to find that
The dream was holding me

This is the last lick
The bass is going to play
And this is the last word
I’m ever going to say
All of the notes in
The melody are wrong
This is the last phrase
I’ll steal from other songs

Not looking back again
I’ve got my eyes ahead
The future’s in the wind
And I’m moving forward
I’ve got new goals in mind
The places I can find
Now I’ll make them mine
Without going under

This is the last time
The very last time
This is the last time
The very last time

Once I believed that
I had a gift to share
Once I had dreams
Of being on the air
So I recorded
The best of what was there
Nobody listened and
No one really cares

(Words by Todd Whisler & Vicki Tama
Music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

Hey, Mr.  Needlenose
Running from despair
Wounded in your hunger
Tell me
Why should I care?

You could have stood the pinnacle

Mr.  Needle
Mr.  Needlenose
Mr.  Needle
Mr.  Needle knows

When you’re in the chair
And unaware
Of who’s there
When the game takes hold
The thrill unfolds
Like fool’s gold
Then the fun begins
The endless sin
They all join in
Then the lines are blurred
The speech is slurred
It’s all just so perfect

Hey, Mr.  Needlenose
Life is a cliché
Watching as tomorrow
Slowly drains today

You should have sailed the storm

(Words by Todd Whisler & Vicki Tama
Music by Todd Whisler & Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

Waltz with me
One more time
Before we die
In the light
Sight so pure
Sound so sweet
Only in you
Am I complete

The warmth I feel
Against my face
Is moving slowly
Around my waist
As my lips tease
And caress
My love for you
Explains the rest

Your lips are trembling
Your heart is pounding
Your arms unfolding
Oh
My kiss excites you
My hands invite
My words entice you
Oh

Bathed in fire by your touch
Hungering for you so much
Surrendering yourself to love
Because I love you
Your fantasies and dreams come true
Anything I ask you’ll do
No matter what it puts you through
Because I love you

Hold me like
It’s the last time
Whispering words
In secret rhyme
Our world of motion
On higher ground
The endless ocean
In which we drowned
Your lips are trembling
Your heart is pounding
Your limbs unfolding
Oh
So lost inside you
I do this for you
Because I love you
Oh

(Words and music by Todd Whisler)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

Hello again
From the inner corners of my mind
Again
You look surprised
You don’t recognize
Don’t worry
It’ll all be the same again
Nothing has changed

It’s gotten lonely here without you
My only true friend
Don’t be afraid
Don’t you turn and walk away
It’ll all be the same again
In time
Sweet time

I have tried to start anew
Without you
But it doesn’t work
All I do is go back
I get off track
The haze is too thick to see through

But I’m back
And you’re here with me now
Don’t you leave
‘Cause I’m too weak
Oh yes, I’m much too weak
To say goodbye again

Well, goodbye then
Goodbye again

I don’t want to say goodbye
I don’t want to say
Please, don’t make me say goodbye
Goodbye

(Words and music by Todd Whisler and Leyth Mulla)
Taken from the album To Be A Star © 2005

When you’re a star
Spend your life passed out
In a limousine
Spend your time killing time
Getting high for free
Spend your time spinning lies
For the gold and green
When your name’s your fame
Do you still believe?

When you’re a star
You’ve tried every drug
And none of them please
When every word’s profane
And every thought’s obscene
And there’s no more magic
In your melodies
When there’s nothing left
But an empty dream

The death of radio
This is the last time
The very last time
Because I love you
I took stock of your life’s story
All the things that we’ve been through

To be a star