A set of lyrics worth sharing

I've been writing songs with my friend Ed Dobeas for about thirty years. Seriously. Ed's a multi-instrumentalist songwriter who now lives in Spain, so now our collaboration is mostly via email. I don't always hit it out of the park on the lyrical end, but I like this set so I thought I'd post it here.

In The Curve Of A Measuring Tape

I’m taking refuge

in the curve of a measuring tape.

I’m hiding from my fate

in the space between the numbers.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Johnny Damon

of the Boston Red Sox

hit a ball

at a certain velocity.

It rolled to a stop

on a precise point

in the misty ballpark

of XYZ.

He stopped at third

and contemplated numbers,

considered the dimensions

of hickory trees,

then he uttered a curse

and ran in the face

of the likelihood percentage

of a suicide squeeze.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Everything that happened

between you and me

reduced to its elemental parts.

Everything ordered

accordingly

from the time of our birth

to the moment of death

to the five hundred thousandth

beat of our hearts.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Count on me but don’t count me.

Is a dance step predictable?

Is a stumble under account?

If I cry are the tears

measured within

the margin of error

of a predetermined amount?

Count on me but don’t count me.

Count on me but don’t count me.

I’m taking refuge

in the curve of a measuring tape.

I’m hiding from my fate

in the space between the numbers.