On a car ride home from Thanksgiving Vacation I was pondering again the question posed a couple weeks ago from somebody who wondered if MH had ever toured and if so what he was like in concert, etc.. I mentioned a few thoughts Mark had shared with me about touring, and also told a story about his "fateful" trip to northern Quebec. It dawned on me, however, that rather than listen to what I had to say about what Mark thought about touring, we could just listen to his own thoughts. The follow excerpts are from his song "IN THE GAZE OF THE SPOTLIGHTS EYE" from the "EYE OF THE STORM" album. Though the song is pretty old, I think it sums up pretty well his thoughts on being "on tour".
In the gaze of the spotlights eye
A long way from home
Still nauseous from a turbulent flight
Up on the stage alone
The live end of a microphone
Point blank to my soul
I'm trying hard to keep my self control
And ooh I want to go home
I wish that this night would end
But ooh I've got to go on
Shoot from the heart again
Somebody came for the rock 'n roll
Somebody came for a smile
Somebody came for a sermon in song
Or something to call worthwhile
Expectations of who knows who (?)
Examining my soul
Somebody came (?) expecting me to play some role.
And ooh I want to go home
I wish that this night would end
But ooh I've got to go on
Shoot from the heart again
I don't have no magical words
No pockets full of spiritual jewels (?)
I only know about the way things are
In light of the simple truth
I don't know whose hearts are breaking
Or whose flags are truly unfurled
Between here and Heaven and the outside world
And ooh I want to go home
I wish that this night would end
But ooh I've got to go on
Shoot from the heart again
(p.s. this is from memory, so please excuse any mistakes. Lines I'm
particularly questioning are marked with the ?. Feel free to correct me.)
-matt dickerson
p.s. Silly old me. Tears came to my eyes thinking about Mark as I wrote this down.
Copyright 1997 Miles O'Neal, Austin, TX. All rights reserved.
Photo Copyright 1992 by ?. All
rights reserved. Used with permission.
Actual quotes belong to the quoted individuals.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]