Our first CD. Lyrics below, player above, cover art to the right. Wade in…
All songs: Words and music by David Partridge

Machine was inspired by a documentary David saw referring celebrating the human body as a mechanical device. Given that the human heartbeat is arguably the definitive beatbox, it just kind of fit. The vocals, acoustic guitar and keyboards are David and the terrific electric guitar is the work of Robert “Buck” Wilburn. Machine questions “the good life” and comes down on the side of life itself. It may be the closest the Comets have come to social commentary, but don’t panic, it’s peppy!

MACHINE
We push too much paper,
We get too much mail.
Our eyelids are dark and slack
And our faces are pale.
We long for a ragtop, a highway and the sun –
It’s more easily done. Here’s the secret:
Lost in your bed,
Left for dead by the enemy unseen,
Just lie still on the ground. Hear that sound?
It’s the song of the machine.
Found in your heart,
It’s the blood through the wounds from where you’ve been.
Let it breathe, bang a gong. What you need
Is the song of the machine.
Our days are too structured;
Our nights are a mess.
We live too far downwind of
The sweet smell of success.
We long for a pillow that’s bursting with our dreams
But there are other means– wake and shake it, darling!
Lost in your bed, left for dead
By the enemy unseen,
Just lie still on the ground. Hear that sound?
It’s the song of the machine.
Found in your heart, it’s the blood
Through the wounds from where you’ve been.
Let it breathe, bang a gong.
What you need is the song of the machine.
Tempos tarnish with sin and circumstance
But you know everyone lives by the drum
You’d best get up and dance.
You want to be happy,
You want to be sane,
You want a first class compartment on
That long gravy train
I don’t have your ticket ‘cause that’s just so much jive.
Look around– you’re alive. It’s a journey, baby.
Lost in your bed, left for dead
By the enemy unseen,
Just lie still on the ground. Hear that sound?
It’s the song of the machine.
Found in your heart, it’s the blood
Through the wounds from where you’ve been.
Let it breathe, bang a gong.
What you need is the song of the machine.

Catch And Release features David on guitars and lead vocal. Buck plays dobro and sings harmony with the illustrious Larry Goguen of the Altona Kahunas. David would like to remind you that he, and he alone, played both guitar parts. Robert would like to remind you of this also! Catch And Release has been featured on several podcasts, including Best Of MySpace, It’s An Acoustic Thing! and the Reverb magazine podcast as well.

CATCH AND RELEASE
You ran a little faster and you caught me
I’m not entirely sure it was your plan
I can’t say for certain that you sought me
But you’re a little swifter than I am.
And so, I’d like to know
Your true intentions please.
Is  this catch and release?
You jumped a little further and you pinned me
I’m not opposed to being second best
You’ll have to be more careful or you’ll wind me
I feel my heartbeat hammer in my chest.
Again, can you explain
Your true intentions please?
Is  this catch and release?
I don’t chase dreams anymore.
It should be clear that I’ve been
Caught on occasion before.
You cast a little further and surprised me
My pool is just not used to something fine
And now you’ve seen what my reaction would be
With something pink and pretty on the line.
I spin, you reel me in
With what intention please?
Is this catch and release? Is this catch and release? Is this catch and release?

People seldom use the dobro as a lead instrument on pop tunes but someone forgot to tell the COMETS. Hold Me To The Light is an uptempo tune featuring lead vocal, acoustic guitar and keyboards by David and electric guitar, harmony vocals and yes, dobro, from Buck. It’s a song of hope and renewal that acknowledges the darker passages of longstanding love.

HOLD ME TO THE LIGHT
You know I love it baby when you sing to me,
As much as when I met you way back when
And though the future’s lost some of its shine for me,
You are one dream that’s bright as it was then.
So lift me up with songs of love
And hold me to the light
And let your dreams pass through my dreams
You know this isn’t quite
The way I thought our story would unfold
But still each chapter blazes against the cold.
You know what I had planned for us when we were kids
To sing in silk and love in luxury
But now I think perhaps the finest silk that there is
Is woven in that voice that sings to me, when you sing to me.
So lift me up with songs of love
And hold me to the light
And let your dreams pass through my dreams
You know this isn’t quite
The way I thought our story would unfold
But still each chapter blazes against the cold.
Our dreams are a little darker now
In spite of a love that grows
But I would forsake any fairy tale
To live out a story that grows and grows.
So lift me up with songs of love
And hold me to the light
And let your dreams pass through my dreams
You know this isn’t quite
The way I thought our story would unfold
But still each chapter rages against the cold.

It Was Autumn has been in David’s repertoire for some time. He recently realized that the song’s meaning has changed for him since he first wrote it. He likens it to being the song’s composer and its audience at the same time. This COMETS version is driven by hand percussion and lifted by fine lead guitar from Robert Wilburn. Auxiliary COMET Howard Rabkin plays bass. David sings and plays acoustic guitar.

IT WAS AUTUMN
Slipping into a memory,
Some tenderness for the ache
Too much dreaming can make you spin
Like leaves into the lake
But  golds and reds at the  water’s edge
Don’t seem to make me blue
‘Cause it was autumn when I first saw you.
Every time that I take a step
I hear that crumbling sound.
Too much dreaming can crack you like
The chestnuts on the ground.
A touch of frost and the summer’s lost
But still the sun streams through
And it was autumn when I first saw you.
When there’s frost on the pumpkin, there’s a chill on the town
But there’s grain in the silo when the wheat stalk is brown.
Slipping into a memory, got some bruises to ease.
Too much dreaming can empty you
Like wind in weary trees.
August dies in September skies
But still, the sky is blue
And it was autumn when I first saw you.

Vegas In The Rain was written in the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. (Yeah, I know, but it really was). Vegas is in the desert, of course, so when it rains, it’s almost surreal. The ground in the valley is either sunbaked or concrete or both, so the water has nowhere to go. This song was inspired by a downpour of almost biblical portions. David sings and plays acoustic rhythm guitar. Electric guitars are by Buck.

VEGAS IN THE RAIN
Half way across this sun-stained valley
Halfway up inside the big hotel.
Each time I step onto the sidewalk,
Paradise is just as hot as hell.
Now that there’s been a change of season,
There are changes in the way I see.
These doors know how to let a breeze in
Whether it’s the weather or it’s me… (Here’s what I see:)
There’s an extra shimmer on this glitter town
And part of it dries up while it’s still coming down
Just like a mist, the gist is so hard to explain,
Vegas in the rain.
Deep in this incandescent valley,
Wide awake and wasting one more night,
Lightning outlines the topless mountains.
Nature does it once but does it right.
Careful, you’re going to need protection–
Neon irritates the naked eye.
There, in the opposite direction,
Clouds crawl low across Nevada sky.
There’s an extra shimmer on this glitter town
And part of it dries up while it’s still coming down
Just like a mist, the gist is so hard to explain,
Vegas in the rain.
Tiny torrents that the tires disturb,
Heaven’s bounty runs from curb to curb.
Two by two, we ride into the dark;
The meter’s running on this ark.
There’s an extra shimmer on this glitter town
And part of it dries up while it’s still coming down
Just like a mist, the gist is so hard to explain,
Vegas in the rain.

I’m Not Over You is lovelorn stuff, a ballad featuring electric guitar work from Buck and a lead vocal and keyboards from David. ALTONA KAHUNA vocalist Larry Goguen contributes a harmony. Incidentally, the version of I’m Not Over You available for download from online retailers is missing Buck’s marvelous electric lead. How did that happen? No idea. But if you bought it, drop us a note from the contact page and we’ll send you the complete version with our apologies.

I’M NOT OVER YOU
I don’t dream about the future anymore
All my dreams are wound around the past.
I can’t get untangled from the days before
The one that was our last.
I’m surprised when I wake up that you are gone.
I’m surprised that I wake up at all.
All that I recall is how you lifted me,
The ride before the fall.
I’m not over you, I have tears to cry.
I don’t have a clue how to say goodbye
I’m not through being blue.
I’m not over you.
Once the sun was gentle and the clouds were gauze.
We wore temperate weather on our skin.
Now my face is ghostly but it’s not because
The fire went out within.
Just before the dark, you packed your pictures up,
Wrapped them in your clothes and closed your case.
My twilight awakening was quite abrupt
With shadows on my face.
I’m not over you, I have tears to cry.
I don’t have a clue how to say goodbye
I’m not through being blue.
I’m not over you.
You were gone, we agree,
When you stopped believing me
So the trick is not the knowing why.
I’m a fool, you are free,
I’m left with an extra key.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
I’m not over you, I have tears to cry.
I don’t have a clue how to say goodbye
I’m not through being blue.
I’m not over you.

Drown was conceived on an airplane (and how may of us can actually say that?) and developed as an extension of David’s fascination, even from great heights, with bodies of water. It has a sense of menace not often found in his writing. David sings, plays acoustic guitar and keyboards. Lead and rhythm electric guitars are by Buck.

DROWN
Dancing inside the flood,
Battered and buoyed by the tune that the currents sing.
Rapids boil your blood,
Pushing your pulse to a place worth remembering.
Swept down the big stream, you twirl and spin like a leaf.
Caught by the deep dream, pulled down to bliss or to grief.
See me from the riverbank a smooth and tranquil blue,
Don’t be surprised were I to rise and drown the likes of you.
Whitecaps and sunshine
You see the sea through the veil of an inland bride.
Longing for coastline,
Blind to the unfeeling grasp of the hungry tide.
What’s down the gulf stream out of the range of the eyes?
Is life but a dream, broken just as you capsize?
See me from the boardwalk, mama, glittering and blue,
You should learn how I can churn and drown the likes of you.
Hear the water’s voice and wonder does the ocean call?
Can you tell your passion’s thunder from a waterfall?
Carried to extremes, we all have poisons to purge.
Sometimes it just seems tempting to jump and submerge.
See me from your airplane, mama, shiny, tiny, blue,
Make sure you know how I can blow and drown the likes of you.

My Time In The Light is a pop tune with a bit of country influence, highlighting the COMETS more acoustic side. David sings lead, fingerpicks an acoustic and plays keys while Buck plays lap steel and acoustic lead as well as singing harmony. They are supplemented in the harmony department by Larry Goguen of the ALTONA KAHUNAS. Incidentally, this is one of David’s favourite lyrics.

MY TIME IN THE LIGHT
Tell the truth and don’t pause to disguise it
Very few will even recognize it.
Plain, unvarnished doesn’t catch the eye or
Draw the crowd that loves the shiny lie more.
I’ve been chosen and I have been discarded
Dragged out of and turned back into the night
But when I land back on the pavement where I started
I’ve brought back something from my time in the light.
Turn around and though you may regret it
Very few have managed to forget it
So pack it up, you’ll have to take it with you,
This new scar where someone used to kiss you.
I’ve been chosen and I have been discarded
Dragged out of and turned back into the night
But when I land back on the pavement where I started
I’ve brought back something from my time in the light.
We’ve sustained some damage: a face or a hand or a heart
But where the aching will  end, a wisdom will start.
Tell the truth and don’t you dare disguise it
Or soon you’ll lie and fail to recognize it.
Small reminders of the ones you don’t win
Are bumps and pools upon a highway of skin.
I’ve been chosen and I have been discarded
Dragged out of and turned back into the night
But when I land back on the pavement where I started
I’ve brought back something from my time in the light.
Ridges and curves of random design
You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.

However Unlikely is a a cheerful uptempo song about the follies and obstructions on the road to love. Sung by David who also plays 12 string guitar, harmonica and keyboards, its backbone is a jangly, arpeggiated guitar or 2 or 3 played by the old Buckeroo. The COMETS are not renowned for the breadth of cheerful ditties in their repertoire, folks, so savour this one!

HOWEVER UNLIKELY
She felt just like an island– scouring horizon for
A freighter or a cruise.
First sight of a vessel, she sent up flares as if
There was nothing to lose.
When you swim in the dark, you can’t tell dolphin from shark.
Death by misadventure, her dreamboat was gone.
He sank in her couch with Discovery on.
When he rolls in hopelessly late
She’s the soul awake at the gate.
Dreams so dense, they cloud the sense
Redemption blind, a pilgrim fool still hoping for
Bliss in a casual kiss, however unlikely that is.
He felt just like a desert– holding it in because
What’s yours is yours alone.
Though her lips may moisten, sun steals her kisses ‘cause
He’s porous as a stone.
Did her sweet tipsy line spill from the heart or the wine?
Longing or belonging, it never is clear.
In one liquid moment they both disappear.
When she rolls in hopelessly late,
He’s the soul awake at the gate.
Dreams so dense, they cloud the sense
Redemption blind, a pilgrim fool still hoping for
Bliss in a casual kiss, however unlikely that is.
It’s a fantasy, it seems to me
But some think maybe the truth is at its core,
You don’t need the whole world to believe it.
If you do then all you need is one more.
When they roll in perfectly late
We’re the souls awake at the gate.
Dreams so dense, they cloud the sense
Redemption blind, a pilgrim fool still hoping for
Bliss in a casual kiss, however unlikely that is.

In Between is a song about the grey area where much of life unfolds. David sings and plays acoustic guitar and keyboards. The inestimable Buck Wilburn plays both the evocative dobro that begins and completes the song as well as the electric guitars throughout.

IN BETWEEN
We have someone close in common.
In this way we are the same:
That the chronicler of heartache
Knows the spelling of our name.
If what you pursue forces you to
The shoulder of the road
Maybe all that they preach
Is not meant to teach
It’s masking the path like a code.
It’s a dream, it’s the dream, it’s your dream
We’re the authors of all that we’ve seen
And the black and the white are just tricks of the light
There is grace in the space in between.
When the pulse betrays the panic
When the heart pulls the alarm,
That’s when dread’s unwelcome fingers
Grip too tight around your arm.
Be still, just be still, try to be still.
Let the madness wane
For as much as they burn you can return
Back to the balance again.
It’s a dream, it’s the dream, it’s your dream
We’re the authors of all that we’ve seen
And the black and the white are just tricks of the light
There is grace in the space in between.
Just as there’s fire in the flint
There is a heartache in the kiss
And though the scent is in the flower,
It’s our choice what we miss.
It’s a dream, it’s the dream, it’s our dream
We’re the authors of all that we’ve seen
& the black & the white are just tricks of the light
There is grace in the space in between.
All songs: Words and music by David Partridge