Here are the lyrics to my new album as I've realized people are singing and posting the wrong lyrics. There may be a spelling error here or there but for the most part this is the way it ought to be.

Enjoy.


1. Reckoning Day

The Lions in the street bend their heads
For the reckoning day
Cause the interstate's giving up her dead
For the reckoning day

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

Bury all your guns in the sand
Cause the temperature's changed
and the blood shot eye of the sun
stains the bones of the slain

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

The hour's gonna take you apart
On the reckoning day
If the property lines of your heart
Are drawn in the clay

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

The tide water's taxing the shores
of the washing away
The flood stands high at your doors
of the houses you made

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

Lift up your head
Oh you gate
Lift up your eyes
All you who wait
Daughter and son
Ashes and dust
Come untied from the weight of the age


2.The Medicine

Driving by those trucker stops
The cheap motels made of concrete rocks
With a hole inside your chest
The size of a city block
And I remember the day
When you said you weren't afraid to die
I don't think your brave for it
I just think your more afraid of being alive

If I had the medicine
I'd give you the medicine
Cause I miss you son
I'd bring you back home if I was the one
But it's four and ten
In the belly of the four AM
And your staring down the weekend
To silence the pain
And I'm wide awake
And there's blood on the promenade

Here's to waking up with that stone between your ribs
And you're lying down again
You just pretend you don't know what it is
When everyone around you says that you're not the one to blame for it
But you're the only one feeling the pain for it
So you're gonna take matters into your own hands

If I had the medicine
I'd give you the medicine
Cause I miss you son
I'd bring you back home if I was the one
But it's four and ten
In the belly of the four AM
And your staring down the weekend
To silence the pain
And I'm wide awake
And there's blood on the promenade


3. Skeleton Bones

Peel back our ribs again
And stand inside of our chest
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Peel back the veil a time
Let us see you with our naked eyes
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Grave stones roll
to the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Yeah so separate those doors
Let the sun of resurrection in

Oh let us
Adore the son of glory
Dressed in love
Open up your gates
Before him
Crown him
Stand him up

We want your blood to flow inside our body and
We want your wind inside our lungs
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah
We want your blood to flow inside our body and
We want your wind inside our lungs
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Grave stones roll
To the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
yeah so separate those doors
And let the sun of resurrection in

Oh let us
Adore the son of glory
Dressed in love
Open up your gates
Before him
Crown him
Stand him up

Everything that breaths
Everything that breaths
Everything that breaths


4. Carbon Ribs

A Thousand pairs of firey eyes
Burn like a serpent down the hwy 5
As the Long amber tail to Los Angeles unwinds
I've got resurrection down in side my skin
But for all my revealating
I just cant make sense
Of this gravity we're in

Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side

A thousand miles of pain I'm sure
Led you to the threshold
Of my hearts screen door
To tell me what it is I'm dying for
Gravity comes
Like a cold cold Rain
To lead me to the rope again
But someone is standing in my place

Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side

And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you


5. Dress Us Up

Dress us up in your righteousness
Bring us in with a ring and a kiss
When you walk into the room you know we can't resist
Every bottle of perfume always ends up on the floor in a mess

You make us sparkle and you make us shine
Like the stars who sing on your chorus line
Through space and time we'll harmonize
Where deep meets deep like the ocean meets the sky

The sun and the moon
They come out of their grave just for you
The dead man and the cynical too
They're coming out of their grave
And it's just for you

Cause the love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
Than the power of death

Dress us up in the blood of a son
Who opened up his veins so that we would overcome
Hell and the grave in the power of his love
After three dark days he showed us how it's done
And he still does

You make us sparkle and you make us shine
Like the stars who sing on your chorus line
Through space and time we'll harmonize
Where deep meets deep like the ocean meets the sky
Yeah

The sun and the moon
They come out of their grave just for you
The dead man and the cynical too
They're coming out of their grave
And it's just for you
Cause the love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
Than the power of death

His love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger
His love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger


6. Death in his grave

Though the Earth Cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls on men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
To Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all


7. Belly Of The Lion

Dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
Work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
We've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known

Listen to the rhythm
Of the pawn shop shore
Got you falling off your hinges
Like that old screen porch
It's the interstate slipping in your pores again
You can ride the vein
From the corner store to Amsterdam
You can bleed the train
From the courthouse to the Vatican
But Friday she's a ghost
And gonna slip right through your hands again

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
Who would've known

So dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
We work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Day like these
Who would've known


8. Philidelphia

You step through me
And the screen door hits the wood
And your packing all your things
You say your moving out to there to Hollywood
And I can't do a thing
You say there's nothing for you
In this cardboard town
And every bridge you cross
Your gonna burn it to the ground
You wont listen to a word that I'm telling ya

So who's running through the halls
In the houses of pain
That are staring back at me
Like the ocean from a plane
I swear I've seen your eyes
in the ghost of Philadelphia

I think about you late at night sometimes
When I can't sleep
Cause I can hear the train
It's always there
You just don't know it
Till a quarter to three
You just can't hear it in the day
When every body's got your number
In a plexy glass town
Where the birds ain't got wings
But no one makes a sound
Cause they all know how to fly
Just I wouldn't buy what they're selling ya

So who's running through the halls
In the houses of pain
That are staring back at me
Like the ocean from a plane
I swear I've seen your eyes
in the ghost of Philadelphia

I run into your old man every once and again
Mostly in the spring
Reminds me of our younger and more genuine days when
You weren't so out of reach
Still for all your running
You just can't change a mile
Of the things you carry around
In the closet of your mind
And the days keep coming man
They never fail ya

Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
And I'm never gonna run away
From what you said

9. Out of the Ground
The lights come out
And follow you around the block
Where the freight train stopped
For you

Cause I can hear you walking in
The city till the pavement ends
With houses crumbling
For you

Cause I'm
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you, for you, for you

Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you

We've run from it
But it sleeps like the current quits
And would've stained my lips
But not for you

We fall apart
at the seems
From day to dark
But its seeping into our sleep
For you

Cause I'm
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you, for you, for you


One by one
Come undone
Come alive
Come alive


10. Ten Thousand

Ten thousand glimmering like coals in our chest
Ball bearings drawn to the magnetic breath
Of ten thousand weeping with wings on their tears
Amidst ten thousand voices for ten thousand years
For ten thousand graves yawning unlocked and unlatched
Now ten thousand holes with rocks on their backs
Ten thousand tombs gaping wide singing the praise
Of ten thousand bodies unlaced and unlaid

As the ten thousand highways unfold their doors
For the ten thousand standing on Nineveh's shores
Where the blood of a husband silences wars
For the girl who rises to meet him
And she sings

World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome
By my song and the blood of a son

Ten thousand rivers
Run red like my veins
Where the bones of men hum
Like a rattling cage
For sinew to cling to
And wind to remain
In ten thousand lungs
For ten thousand days
Breathing like a choir
Of holes in the ground
Where the cynical have lain
Where the cynical go down
Save the gravity of time
Lets go of her drowned
Like ten thousand sparrows
Unlocked and unwound

As the ten thousand highways unfold their doors
For the ten thousand standing on Nineveh's shores
Where the blood of a husband silences wars
For the girl who rises to meet him
And she sings

World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome
By my song and the blood of a son

The new album is almost done. I'l have some new music posted soon.

The album will be released Sept 9th but you can get it a little early at my CD release show Sept 6 in Charlotte, NC at the Visulite Theatre.

We should be taking pre-orders in the next few weeks.

John Mark

I get messages daily about where people can get my lyrics and chord charts. Well, the charts are on the way but here are the lyrics now.

Lyrics to the album: "The Song Inside the Sounds Of Breaking Down"

"London Town"
There is a lion
Coming into London Town
Walking on the promenade
Standing in the underground

He's not afraid of the rain, the pain
Things are going to change
I can feel it in my veins
He's not afraid of the rain, the pain
Things are going to change
I can feel it now

He is the glimmer of hope to the all alone
He is the voice of reason on the telephone' He plays bigger shows than the Rolling Stones
But he wont let you down

Somebody cut the lights on
In the city where the sun doesn't shine
He's gonna take you for a ride
Down the Piccadilly line

He's not afraid of the rain, the pain
Things are going to change
I can feel it in my veins
He's not afraid of the rain, the pain
Things are going to change
I can feel it now

He is the hand of justice to the innocent
He's not the Judge he's not the jury
He's the evidence
He's got more connection than the president
And he's got you on his mind


"Make You Move"
Would you save me for a song
If the music was where we'd meet
Would you save another dance for me
Would you save my soul
For the chance that I could know you now

I just want touch you
I just want to make you move
I can't get over you
The way you slide into the room

Would you save me for a song
If I didn't have the words to say
Would you listen to me anyway
Would you help me out
For the chance that I could know you now
I would bury my pride in the ground
If I'm running then I don't know how
I'm ever going to get back home

I just want touch you
I just want to make you move
I can't get over you
The way you slide into the room


"Alive"
All my skin like porcelain
Crack beneath the pressure of your hands again
I guess I've been thinking that its been to long
Sense I fell down hard
And bled my heart all over you
But maybe I never recovered from the last one

What if I could be
Something more than me
They say that I got a disease
Of the human kind
Maybe all I know is
In your arms and in your eyes
I'm more than alive

Well all I have to say
About these serious days
And the condition of my heart
Is there both still as much a mystery to me
And they both get so hard
When I forget what its like just to die in your eyes
And when I live just to live n your arms
Well they say that a man can never go home
But I just can't get out of your front yard

What if I could be
Something more than me
They say that I got a disease
Of the human kind
Maybe all I know is
In your arms and in your eyes
I'm more than alive


"Ashes and Flames"
You and I meet
On the shores of the broken
You swallow the ocean
I Swallow my pride
Only to see
The way that I need you
Is more than I knew
I ever could

In between the ashes and the flames
Is a cry an awkward silence
Could never contain
And the falling of my hammers
And the writhing of my pain
Is just not as real as the way
That your calling my name

I cant help thinking
That the way that you want me
And the ghost that haunts me
Are one and the same
Cause you stand at my window
At night wile I'm sleeping
There's not a promise I'm keeping
That could ever repay you

In between the ashes and the flames
There's a song that burns brighter
Than Radio waves
Bout the remnants of my Idols
And the shadow of my shame
About how they scatter like the rain and I can't stop crying
Cause you wont stop calling my name

Calling my name up from the ashes



"Breaking Down"
I'm making plans to waist my life on you
I'm making plans to waist my life on you
Cause New York City and Hollywood combined
They ain't got enough lights
To make me want change my mind about you

Cause I'm breaking down
I don't even care if there's anyone else around
Cause I'm breaking down
I always fall to pieces whenever your around

I'm Mary Magdalene and tonight is a bottle of perfume
I'm Mary Magdalene and tonight is a bottle of perfume
There's not enough dignity to hold me now
When I know your going to meet me here
There's not enough gravity
To keep me away from you

Cause I'm breaking down
I don't even care if there's anyone else around
Cause I'm breaking down
I always fall to pieces whenever your around

So meet me here
Where we shine like gold
Like the light beneath the embers
Of the burning colas
And I will spill my bottle
Like in days of old
On the song that bleeds from the breaking down


"Kiss Your Feet"
I dreamed I kissed your feet
Between the cigarette butts
On the side of fourteenth street
I got down on my hands and my knees
With an alabaster jar

I dreamed I'd bleed with your praises
Just to make the world
Smell like your grace again
I got down on my hands and my knees again

And I'm crawling on the floor
Just to find you now
To tell you how I feel I'm falling all over myself

Good morning brokeness
You know you've cut me to the bone
Like one of those days in the middle of the winter
The kind that you can't run away from
And we've been here for so long
But I found a way to appease you
Inside this alabaster jar

And I'm crawling on the floor
Just to find you now
To tell you how I feel I'm falling all over myself

And all my afflictions
There only light ones anyway now



"Closer"
Come closer
Closer to me
Find me broken
Find me bleeding
I need more now than a fairy tale god
Who lives in a book
I need some one real

Would you come
Closer to me now

Come closer
Closer to me
Find me broken
Find me on my knees
I need more now
Than philosophy
Some God in outer space
Doesn't mean anything to me

Would you come
Closer to me now

Son of David
Don't pass me by
I am naked
I'm poor and I'm blind


"Next To You"
With our you I'm just
Water and dust
A disaster a face and a name
Who am I kidding
With out you I'm nothing at all

You catch when I fall
You return all my calls
And your never not around
When I need you
And I always do

On my own
I m more than just alone
I'm colder than religion
I'm colder than stone
With out you I'm
Another waist of time
Like words that only rhyme
But aren't making any sense

Can I get next to you now
Can I lean on your perfection
Can lean on you now
Can I get next to you now
I cant breath with out you any more

With out you I'm left
With just rocks in my chest
Aches and pains that will not recess
The worst is
With out you I've got nothing left to say
You sweeten my days with that light amber haze
And you never could get away
When I need you
And I always need you

On my own
I m more than just alone
I'm colder than religion
I'm colder than stone
With out you I'm
Another waist of time
Like words that only rhyme
But aren't making any sense

Can I get next to you now
Can I lean on your perfection
Can lean on you now
Can I get next to you now
I cant breath with out you any more


"Setting Suns"
When everything's said and dome
Your all I really have
In the midst of these setting suns
The city lights at best
Are portraits of my friends
But they don't make amends
For this ridiculous mess

So I will float on
Every word you said
When the water of my ghosts
They rise above my head
And I will stand up on your back
In the middle of this sea
When collectors of my debts
They come to sink there teeth

And its all I can think about now
Is how good you are to me

This body is a hole
My flesh one shallow grave
I am six feet below myself
And at my best
I still deserve to die
But I'll be glorified
In this ridiculous mess

So I will float on
Every word you said
When the water of my ghosts
They rise above my head
And I will stand up on your back
In the middle of this sea
When collectors of my debts
They come to sink there teeth

And its all I can think about now
Is how good you are to me


"I Am a Temple"
Deep inside me
There's this burning
That just won't let me go
You are my fire
You are my righteousness
You are my rock in roll

I wish I could fit you
Down inside my chest God
I wish I could swallow you whole
I'd wrap you up
In a blanket of my skin
And you could call my body home

I am a temple
My body is a temple
I am a temple

So what if I'm not worthy
You make me clean

I can't get over how quickly you recover
The pieces of my heart as they shatter
Cause in your hands I am
More than just a brand new man
And all my falling down now
Its just don't matter

I am a temple
My body is a temple
I am a temple

So what if I'm not worthy
You make me clean


"Walking In My Sleep"
I feel like I've been walking in my sleep
Digging trenches in the pavement
With the soles of my feet
And I feel like I've been running on gasoline
I was so cold before I met you
I was as cold as a machine

So wont you stay
Stay with me now
The cynical people
Of the world can drown
In a wake of your kindness
Beneath the weight of your grace
Its more than I can take
And just walk away

I feel like I've been walking in my sleep
Chasing shadows, throwing punches
Like stones into the sea
So tell me haven't I been breathing all these years
Was I a ghost before I met you
Or was I even real

So wont you stay
Stay with me now
The cynical people
Of the world can drown
In a wake of your kindness
Beneath the weight of your grace
Its more than I can take
And just walk away


"How He Loves"
He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath
The weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize how beautiful you are
And how great your afflictions for me

Oh how he loves us so
Oh how he loves us
How he loves us so

Yea He loves us
Oh how

We are his portion
And he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meats earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart burns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
He loves us

Oh how he loves us so
Oh how he loves us
How he loves us so

Yea He loves us
Oh how

I thought about you
The day Stephen died
And you met me between my breaking
I know that I still love you God
Despite the agony
See people they want to tell me your cruel
But if Stephen could sing
He'd say its not true
Cause your good