"Bridge Across The Ocean"

I’ve never read William S. Burroughs; doing so remains on my “to do” list. What little I know of him I have learned through the filter of other people talking about his influence on them and their work. For example, David Bowie likes to apply a “cut-up technique” that he borrowed from Burroughs in writing his song lyrics. I, in turn, borrowed the idea from Bowie for my collection, “Cut Pieces.” (I’m especially proud of that title because it not only references the Burroughs/Bowie cut-up technique, but also Yoko Ono’s performance art happening “Cut Piece.” Yoko gets her share of bad press, but I respect her very much as an artist.)

For this set of songs, I took lots of unused lyric fragments I’d amassed over time in various journals and notebooks (I’m an avid diarist), cut them up and put them back together in new ways. A detail: I did quite a bit of the work while watching art documentaries and drinking Constant Comment tea laced with Red Boot whiskey. I’m actually rather pleased with the way many of the songs turned out, including “Bridge Across The Ocean.” (Another title I lie, alluding as it does to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Paul Simon is, by nearly all accounts, a very difficult person to deal with, but he’s a brilliant songwriter and musician.)

Bridge Across The Ocean

© 2014 Brian Hutzell

In my dreams

I’m making music to fill stadiums

I wear the mask of a man half my age

I play my role barefoot

Say my lines, make my bows

Nothing between the street and the stage

Where is my faith?

Where is my soul?

Who is my god?

What is my role?

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across time

Uneasy in my skin

But comfortable in costume

This act needs refining

From the fringe to the lining

My make-up and persona

Of my own designing

Where is my faith?

Where is my soul?

Who is my god?

What is my role?

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across time

You never know when you start a poem

What you will see, or when you’ll get home

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across the ocean

Building a bridge across time