CD's - Lyrics, Credits, and Liner Notes

• Drums -  Tim  Hepburn
• Guitar - Carlo Volhl
• Keys, Bass, Vocals - Frank Bengier
• Vocals -  Sabina and Zemfira Baurova Hoppel, Dana Kimmel, Maura McKeagan

Sometimes you don't realize what you have... 

until it's Gone

Alone On This Highway  Remembering the first time that I ran away from home

Most people who know me, or think they know me, think that I'm simple or normal or down to earth. But the truth is...I'm a complicated guy. From the outside, my life might look like a quiet, peaceful house in a gated community. But in reality, I'm haunted with demons hidden deep inside...and apparitions passing through my walls. And in one of those dark rooms, I'm there...

Waiting For You

I had a girlfriend once who loaned me her guitar. That was a big mistake because... It didn't take long before I fell in love with it.  She would call me up thinking I had been untrue and I would tell her that no, I'm just Sleeping With Your Guitar.  I wasn't lying... but when I took that guitar  out on the road with me... well, she never saw me or that guitar ever again. 

Sometimes, everything in your life moves so fast that you can't process it all.  And sometimes, the best thing you can do about it... is just Keep Running.

Where I'm from in the Midwest, in the winter time, a lot of people... especially old people, go south to Florida. I guess they can't take the cold anymore. Kind of like birds that fly south, then come back in the Spring. Every once in a while, those old birds will lose their sense of direction and end up... I don't know... in New Jersey or something... on the Jersey shore in the middle of winter. Well, one time, I found myself lost on the east coast.  I was in Coney Island in the dead of winter... all the rides were shut down, the shops and restaurants were all boarded up.  So, I just wandered around until I found another lost bird.  When I first saw her, she was walking towards me on the beach. I was cold December, and she was dressed like a summer day.  And when we locked eyes I knew that It All Comes Down To Me

Drums - Curtiss Johnson

Drums - David Vought

Guitar - Carlo Volhl

Keys, Bass, Vocals - Frank Bengier

It's hard to tell if it's just a dream or something real when I wake up alone... Every Morning Light.

The way that you Shot Me Down, I might never be the same again.

She was a time traveler from the 19th century straight to my bed... straight into my head. It was Marie Laveau, Voodoo Priestess. She was always one step ahead of me, and I was Falling Behind.

I never worked in the coke plant. But I still have that coal dust layered in my lungs moving like sludge through my veins as I drive through the shadows that use to be This Steel Town.

When I find you... I can't get away, and I realize that I don't want to... because I'm Tied To Your Heart.

There's a Cold Wind surrounding the volcano of your heart. Is it enough to melt the ice running through your veins.

If I hadn't stopped to tie my shoes that day twenty years ago, I would have met you... and life would be different now. When I wake in the middle of the night, I would find that You're Still There.

A long time ago in another life, I was a bootlegger in the 1920's during prohibition... running moonshine... running from the law... running from the rival gangs... and running from myself... but always trying to get back to you.  Only to find out that you didn't want me either.  I was Driving Right Back To You to break my heart.

Stripper Pole - Lead Guitar Carlo Valhl

- Rap Richie Nickosin

One Night Stand:

Phil Lee - Bass Guitar

Jennifer Renae - Vocals

Sybal Basu - Lead Guitar

Greg Brown - Drums

All other songs and parts written, performed, and produced by Frank Bengier

I've come to the conclusion that some people are just meant to be in my life in some way.  I might forcefully try to keep them out, but If I Let You In Again you keep coming back. And when I thought about it really hard, I had to consider.... that maybe I was one of those people.  Then I thought about it some more... and now I'm sure that I could be one of those people... if you let me in again.

When I was still a kid, my dad sat me down... and he said, "Hey kid..." That's what he called me most of the time... other names he called me I can't repeat.  He said, 

"Kid, do you know what your problem is?" I said, "I don't have" - "Shut up kid," he says..."That was a rhetorical question... "Your problem is that you don't understand The System."  I said, "What's the System?" He said "I'd explain it to you, but you wouldn't understand it ... so I'm not going to waste my time.  So, to this day , there's a system out there that I'll never understand.  And every day, I wake up ready to fight... ready to fight against the System!

James Joyce was interviewed when he was about to release his new novel, Finnegan's Wake. When asked what it was about, he said that it's a mountain that I dig into from all directions, but I don't know what I'll find. Then he went on to say a lot of other things that made more sense to him than to anyone else.  He was a Merchant Of Ideas.

1) Note Found In A Book

      She used to write me notes, then hide them in various places like time bombs or land mines that I would find maybe years later.  The one main passion that we shared was music.  We were together for about six years.  She died of cancer eleven years ago. A few weeks ago, I pulled a book off the shelf, and one of her notes exploded into my hand. It said, “You can be sure that I am missing you at this very moment… wherever you are.” 

2) Thirty Feet From The Top

Relationships can sometimes feel like you are climbing Mount Everest together.  When you get close to reaching the top, you might have to decide to turn back because of weather or fatigue. This can be a life-or-death moment.   When you attempt to climb Mount Everest in real life, it’s probably not a good idea to bring your ex-girlfriend with you.  

3) For The First Time Again

When you find your soulmate, everything you experience is familiar.  All the lives you may have lived, time spent together in some ethereal realm, every first time has a familiar feeling to it.  It is as though you are living it again for the first time. So they say…

4) Leave That Lonely Girl Alone

 There’s a reason that she’s lonely. You might find out too late that she is also truly dangerous.

5) Time Stands Still

We all know that we aren’t taking care of the earth.  The environmental obstacles are so daunting that it’s easy to just stand by and watch it all crumble.  And it’s not easy to even know what to do.  As my mom used to say, and I think that our future descendants would also, “Do Something…even if it’s wrong!” 

6) I Don't Think So

When it gets to this point, you know it’s time to go.

7) Slide Into My Arms

The sense of touch… your hair…your scent reaching me on a gentle breeze…the sense of sight as you look into my soul… And all the other girls I have ever known in my life… they’ve got nothing on you. 

8) She Is With You

For everyone who has lost their mother, know that in your darkest hours, she is with you.

9) More Time

Now aware of my light, I see where my shadow dies.  Just when you start to figure things out, your time is up too soon. 

10) His Downfall

As he dies, his life flashes before his eyes. Was she his downfall? Or was it just that his life was too mundane to matter anymore? He watches while floating above. But this is no near- death experience.

Written and recorded by 

Frank Bengier

  I can Take You Down... even if you are a succubus who slips into my bed when I'm asleep, then leaves before the sun comes up.

When words are not enough, Actions Speak Louder Tonight

 At a bar called "The Ville," a lot of Day Drinking is done starting at around noon. These retirees inspired this song as they refuse to waste an afternoon.

 Please Don't Hurt Me

When I think of songwriting and I should be surfing with a blank mind, these are the kinds of lyrics I come up with.

 No More

"We were running like the rails in the summer heat

Two hearts in the same direction that never meet"

 Everyone Has An Ally 

Some call them guardian angels or Spirit Guides... they let themselves be seen mainly when our lives are at a crossroads or at some major inflection point.

 Tear Me Down

 Trying to empty my mind of all thoughts. But I keep thinking that all those hours spent meditating might be  wasted. And sometimes we have to be torn down to our bare essence before we can be rebuilt... hopefully newer and better. 

 If I tell you what this song is about, I'll have to kill you.  Yes, it's that secret. Maybe you can decode it if you

Read Between The Lines

 Some people believe that we create our reality somewhere in the fifth dimension. Once it is formed, only then is it manifested in the three D. 

As Above, So Below

 I only lived in San Francisco for two years. There's no better place on earth.  So, why am I not living there now? Good question. There is so much history there. Every street or building haunts the present. We walk on sidewalks that echo the footsteps of Jack Keroac and Mark Twain. We can still hear their voices carried on the breeze that cools our arrogance as we share this space with the past. So many San Francisco Stories

 We Don't Care

This could be the anthem for the next generation.

 Over

This has to be the darkest song I've ever written... which makes sense since it was written during my Dark period.