Eleni Kelakos.com

WHERE I COME FROM

LIST OF SONGS

1. Where I Come From
2. The Alligator Man Loves the Monkey Girl
3. Devotion Street
4. Time Out of Time
5. Leaving Lowell
6. Cyber Sex Everyday Healers
7. In This Wood
8. Tessie
9. Acid Annie
10. Gold Rush

WHERE I COME FROM
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Where I'm from there's an ocean breeze
And evil eyes and worry beads,
And the twisted arms of olive trees,
Where I, where I come from.

Where I'm from there's a windswept coast,
And whitewashed shacks and nimble goats,
And tangled nets and fishing boats,
Where I, where I come from.

Blue Aegean Sea flows inside of me,
Ancient as the sun, where I come from.

Where I'm from women dress in black,
Carry heavy burdens on their back,
And their hands are weathered, worn and cracked,
Where I, where I come from.

Old men sit in the village square,
And the Ouzo flows and the tempers flare
In the smack of salt in the warm night air,
Where I, where I come from.

Blue Aegean Sea flows inside of me,
Ancient as the sun, where I come from.

Octopus is stewed in wine,
Eggs dyed red at Easter time.
Birthplace of Olympic games-
Tourists visit what remains.

Where I'm from came Socrates,
And various philosophies,
And temples steeped in mysteries,
Where I, where I come from.

Blue Aegean Sea flows inside of me,
Ancient as the sun, where I come from.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Nick Stoubis: Bouzouki
Brian Brock: Udu, Djembe, percussion

THE ALLIGATOR MAN LOVES THE MONKEY GIRL
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Born a bearded baby, hair from head to toe,
Dubbed "The Monkey Girl" and then,
Sold off to the circus show.
Grew up quite the lady, for a fuzzy girl,
Caught the eye of the 'gator man
Who loved the way her whiskers curled.

And the Alligator Man, well he loves the Monkey Girl.
Yes, the Alligator man loves his bearded Monkey Girl.

Made a striking couple, dressed up, on the town,
Him with skin like a scaly snake,
Her with her beard and gown.
Famous at the sideshow, more so when they wed--
"See the strangest man and wife!"
This is what the papers said.

And the Alligator Man, well he loves the Monkey Girl.
Yes, the Alligator man loves his bearded Monkey Girl.

Bought a bungalow in Pensacola,
Bar-B-Q and hammock in the yard.
Sipping on some rum and coca cola,
Toasting to the hanging moon and stars.

"If I shave my whiskers, chest and forearms too,
Blonde my hair and rouge my cheeks,
Honey what would you do?"
"Looks are overrated," he says in reply,
"40 years we're man and wife-
You've got to love the heart inside."

And the Alligator Man, well he loves the Monkey Girl.
Yes, the Alligator man loves his bearded Monkey Girl.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals
John "J.T." Thomas: Piano
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass

DEVOTION STREET
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

(Written for my mother, who talked about her childhood home on
Devotion Street, in Brookline, MA for much
of the last year of her life).

On Devotion Street,
Mama sewed for supper, I sat at her feet
Stacking up the straight pins in a silver heap.
Life was new and neat on Devotion Street.

On Devotion Street,
Summer sidewalks sizzled in the hanging heat,
I drew marks for hopscotch and I jumped and leaped.
Life was full and sweet on Devotion Street.

And the Singer stitched and the bobbin spun
And the mailman whistled and the chores got done
Fireflies at night, bobbing taillights.

On Devotion Street,
Neighbors hung up laundry, mama pressed in pleats,
We prayed at the table when we sat to eat.
Life was so complete on Devotion Street.

Now my hair is white and this room is bare
And these days are long and I sit and stare
At the handle on the door-
Can't remember what it's for.

On Devotion Street,
I was fresh and fragrant as the greenest wheat,
Now I'm worn and brittle like the colored leaves
Clinging to the trees on Devotion Street.

I lived, I lived, I lived
I lived, I lived, I lived
On Devotion Street.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Greg Liesc: Weisenborn lap steel guitar

TIME OUT OF TIME
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

It's the hot spot in the danger zone,
It's the tight space between skin and bone,
It's the frank talk at three AM,
It's the line crossed between lover and friend.

It is what it is, it was what it was,
Time out of time, a moment of love,
A toss between hell and heaven above,
Time out of time out of time-
A moment of love.

It's a slow tease in candlelight,
It's a low moan in the dead of night,
It's the soft skate of a sliding hand,
It's a side trip to the promised land.

Tangled and fumbling and torn with desire,
Wedding vows checked at the door.
Seconds strung taut as they tick and expire,
Sanity flung to the floor.

It's a quick drop from a high wire,
It's a pit stop for the devil's fire,
It's a shared look,
It's a closing door,
It's a stained sheet and nothing more.

It is what it is, it was what it was,
Time out of time, a moment of love,
A toss between hell and heaven above,
Time out of time out of time --
A moment of love.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Phil Parlopiano: Accordion
Chris Garcia: Shaker

LEAVING LOWELL
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP
(Written in memory of my father,
Michael G. Kelakos)

Little boy with old man eyes,
Scuffed spats, and a serious side.
At his father's barbershop,
He sweeps the hair, and he wields the mop.
Pictures framed from magazines
Foster the Hellenic dream:
The gods of ancient Greece preside
Over new-shorn men with new-found lives.
But the boy thinks "could be more,"
And like Icarus before
He dreams of wings that soar
And of leaving, leaving Lowell.

Sunday lamb on metal spit,
Women serve while the men-folk sit.
Red Sox on the radio,
Muddy coffee turning cold.
Someone picks Bouzouki strings
With a feather from a chicken wing.
Cobblestones bounce passing cars,
Belching smokestacks smudge the stars.
But the boy sits with his maps,
He finds Africa and France,
And he dreams of distant lands
And of leaving, leaving Lowell.

Eager at the starting gate,
The very first to graduate,
Then work that took him clear across the sea--
Just like his father in reverse.
Is it a gift, is it a curse
To yearn for what's outside our boundaries?
Leaving Lowell.

The boy's long gone-- I've got his eyes,
His urge to go, his need to fly.
He left me with a legacy of burning curiosity.
In this town where he began,
Where he grew to be a man,
I remain a moment-then I am on the road again.
'Cause I'm restless in my bones,
On a journey all my own,
And I'm always leaving home,
Now I'm leaving, leaving Lowell.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass

CYBER SEX
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Hey, baby, did I do you good?
Did I do you right, like a lover should?
It's hard to know when you're so far away,
And I'm stuck here waiting for that voice to say:
"You've Got Mail."

Hey, baby, did my words inflame,
Did they make you squirm?
Did you moan my name?
I'm glad I stuck through typing 101,
'Cause I never dreamed it could be this much fun-
"You've Got Mail."

In my mind you are the perfect guy,
Cool and sexy with an evil eye.
Every little word you write to me
Jacks the heat up in my fantasy.

Hey, baby, did I turn you on?
When you read my words, did you, uh, play along?
It's had to type with one hand occupied.
My modem is slow, but my pulse rate is high-
"You've Got Mail."

In my mind you are the perfect guy,
Cool and sexy with an evil eye.
Every little word you write to me
Jacks the heat up in my fantasy.

Hey, baby, try this on for size,
Fifteen smutty pages of abject lies:
I'm 52, I am not 21,
I'm a boy, not a girl, not a holster but a gun-
"You've Got Mail."
Mail male. That's m-a-l-e, honey.
"You've Got Mail."

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Michael Benedict: Saxophone
Chris Garcia: Snare Drum

EVERYDAY HEALERS
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

It's the volunteer at three Am who takes the crisis call
And talks a desperate denizen out of a deadly fall.
It's the teacher staying after school to teach a kid to read-
When everyone has given up, the teacher still believes.

Everyday healers, everyday lives,
Everyday angels, here in disguise.
Like ropes to the drowning,
A roof in the rain,
Everyday healers, everyday saints.

It's the stranger giving sage advice out of the total blue,
It's the lawyer who won't charge a fee in defense of the truth.
It's the singer on the darkened stage who seems to know your pain,
It's the nurse who rocks the newborn strung out on cocaine.

Everyday healers, everyday lives,
Everyday angels, here in disguise.
Like ropes to the drowning,
A roof in the rain,
Everyday healers, everyday saints.

They're humble and human, all ages and types,
All colors, all genders, from all walks of life.
It's the stuff that we're made of,
It's the best we can be,
And it's lurking in you, if you'll just set it free.

It's the worker at the rest home who wipes the wrinkled face
Of the old man in the armchair staring into space.
It's the woman with a child from a foster home
Who hugs that baby to her as if it were her own.

Everyday healers, everyday lives,
Everyday angels here in disguise.
Like ropes to the drowning,
A roof in the rain,
Everyday healers, everyday saints.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
John "J.T." Thomas: Piano
Phil Parlopiano: Mandolin

IN THIS WOOD
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

It started with a crib, built when she was born
Daddy made it with his hands, buffed it 'til it shone.
Bars on either side, taller than her chin,
Made to keep intruders out and his daughter in

And he said:
"Let this crib have arms, wrapped to hold you tight,
Let the knots be eyes, watching you at night.
I'd be this crib myself if I could-
My heart, my soul is in this wood."

When she learned to run, Daddy built a bed
Wider than her arms could reach, taller than her head
Built of solid oak, polished to a shine
Canopied and built to last 'til the end of time

And he said:
"Let this bed have arms, wrapped to hold you tight,
Let the knots be eyes, watching you at night.
I'd be this bed myself if I could-
My heart, my soul is in this wood."

When the daughter married, she took her wooden bed,
Laid down with her husband in the dark.
Felt hard eyes, watching her, wooden arms holding her,
Could swear she heard her Daddy's beating heart.

Her husband left in spring, suitcase in his hand,
Swore his bride has lost her heart to another man.
Daddy's little girl made her rumpled bed,
Heard her father's fateful voice ringing in her head:

And he said:
"Let this bed have arms, wrapped to hold you tight,
Let the knots be eyes, watching you at night.
I'd be this bed myself if I could-
My heart, my soul is in this wood."

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals, harmonies, acoustic guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Greg Liesc: Acoustic Guitar

TESSIE
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Tessie's sour as a crabby apple,
Puckered face like a worn out plum,
Spits out oaths like a drunken sailor,
Guards her yard with a BB Gun.
Shoddy house with the shutters peeling,
Weedy yard with a shrunken tree,
Tessie yells to the cars that park there:
"Don't you try to park near me!

Go away, go to Hell!
I don't need you, can't you tell?"

Tessie sits while her fangs are soaking,
And she thinks of the life she'd had:
Barren, loveless and constipated,
And her friendships have all gone bad.
In the darkness she takes a tally
Of the friends that have let her down.
"Everybody is out to get me,
Everytime I turn around, so

Go away, go to Hell!
I don't need you, can't you tell?"
Shaking fists, blazing eyes
Ratty satin robe.
Tessie sprays the passersby
With a garden hose.

On the evening that death comes calling,
Tessie faces him gun in hand.
Fighting hard for the life she hated,
Tessie takes her final stand, yells:

"Go away, go to Hell!
I don't need you, can't you tell?"

Eleni Kelakos: vocals, acoustic guitar
Jeff Turmes: Bass Clarinet

ACID ANNIE
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Acid Annie, wearing tie-dye, dries her long hair in the sun
Silver tendrils, curling crazy, like a halo roughly spun.
And she wears a crown of daisies, butter yellow, green and white,
And the breeze tastes like the ocean, as a hummingbird takes flight.

Acid Annie of the Redwoods makes her candles one by one,
And the bees buzz round the hot wax, and the wind chimes dance a song.
And she stirs her colors madly, china blue and ruby wine-
She has conjured in this cabin since the spring of '69.

Seasons they pass, no time at all,
Summer of love fades into fall.

Acid Annie drives a mustang, battered bumper, rusted chrome,
And her baby son is twenty, and he's living on his own.
And the poster with the peace sign curls up brittle on the wall,
And her jeans are worn reminders of a dream she can't recall.

Seasons they pass, no time at all
Summer of love fades into fall.

And her old man lives in Fresno, he wears a suit and tie;
He left when she turned thirty-one and never told her why.
She sells her colored candles, weekends in the park,
Smokes homegrown marijuana in the dark.

Acid Annie has a laptop, surfs the chatrooms just for fun,
Does her hikes and meditations, drives to Starbucks when she's done.
And she spins a stack of vinyl, 33's and 45's-
When she sings along to Janis, man, she really comes alive

Seasons they pass, no time at all,
Summer of Love fades into fall.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals, Harmonies, "tchks" and acoustic guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Phil Parlopiano: Mandolin

GOLD RUSH
(Eleni Kelakos)
Copyright 2003 Leg E Cat Music, ASCAP

Daniel was a thistle, blowing in the wind
Dreaming of adventures just around the bend.
Sally was an oak tree, rooted to the ground,
Hungry for a homestead, children all around.
But when he left her for the gold in California,
He held his Sally close and he told her:

"I will come to you, Sally, when my wandering days are through,
When the urge for moving on is gone, I will come to you."
And she said:
"When you get here, you'll want to stay.
Won't take wing and fly away.
Oh, we will love the livelong day.
When you get here, you'll want to stay."

Sally planted flowers by her swinging gate,
Daffodils to mark the time that she had to wait.
Daniel wrote her letters posted from the road,
Riding on the railroad roaring toward the gold.
And he wrote her of an ocean deep as longing,
And his plans to mine the gold to forge a ring.

"I will come to you, Sally, when my wandering days are through,
When the urge for moving on is gone, I will come to you."
And she said:
"When you get here, you'll want to stay.
Won't take wing and fly away.
Oh, we will love the livelong day.
When you get here, you'll want to stay."

Well, the fever took sweet Sally in spring of '68,
With Dan a mere two miles away from Sally's swinging gate-
The daffodils were blooming, he laid some on her grave.
He wept himself to sleep that night
And dreamed he heard her say:

"When you get here you'll want to stay,
You'll get wings, won't fly away.
Oh, we will love the livelong day.
When you get here you'll want to stay."

"Oh, I will come to you Sally, when my wandering days are through,
When the urge for moving on is gone, I will come.
I will come to you, I will come to you.
I've a ring for you. I will come.

Eleni Kelakos: Vocals, Harmonies, Acoustic Guitar
Ernie Nunez: Upright Bass
Greg Liesc: Banjo, Mandolin