Lyrics to Songs on Sundress:

Here are all of they lyrics to the fourteen songs on Joey Fortuna's first solo album, Sundress

« Click on any of the links on the left to read the song lyrics.

About Sundress:

Sundress was recorded in five different homes, in New York and New Jersey. The record was recorded by Sal Mormando (engineer on the grammy-nominated Bebop Timba by Raphael Cruz) and produced by Sal Mormando and singer/songwriter Mila Drumke.

Sundress features acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, percussion, trombone, cigar box, cardboard box, toy piano, an actual alarm clock and a chorus of children recorded one at a time over several months

Sundress includes performances from Don Peris of the Innocence Mission, Erik Della Penna of Kill Henry Sugar, Lyris Hung from HUNG and Mila Drumke.

Sundress's album art was drawn and painted by celebrated children's book author Brian Floca.

Sweet Thoughts

Jack lost his son to a drive-by in Washington
Two kids in a stolen red car
In his dreams the boy says, "Papa did you ever think you'd see me here?
Did you ever think your son would get this far?
I can see in your heart while you sleep.
You don't have to worry about me anymore."

His brother took his own life in the night
When a cruel woman took away his heart
When Jack dreams of his brother now, he's hard to recognize
With his head held high and his arms spread wide apart.
And he says, "Jackie, all the girls here dance!
Who would've thought of it?
Who would've thought of it?"

CH:
It's a long, long wait. Then your ghosts come back.
Like memories of what you won't get back.
Oh, everything, if you could have it back.
It's the sweet thoughts that get you through the night.

He lost his wife to years of diseases
Cold, merciless and grey
But in his dreams, she dances round as brightly as you please
Like the sun on their wedding day.
She says, "Darling, you haven't changed.
I love the way you smile!
I love your blue, blue eyes.
I love the way you hold my hand,
Your fingers laced in mine.
There will come a time
When we won't need to say goodbye anymore."

White Bird

Yesterday you saw a white bird, you always were
One of those people who notices.
I turned to see it, but for me it's
Just one of those things that I'll always miss
So won't you be my eyes
When I'm blinded
And come sit beside me, I'll hear you describing the rays
Of the setting sun.

And all day long, how we roll along, and how my heart beats
All day long

Just today I found a calendar I lost a year ago,
Useless now, in my desk.
And we flipped through the days and it's full of mistakes and I know
I'm still bad at this, still, I'll press on
And still I'll be surprised
By how time is
But come sit beside me, there's always more time in the rays
of the setting sun

And all day long, how we roll along, and how my heart beats
All day long

And someday soon, with the rising moon, it'll be the end
Of these golden days, but then again
I don't care what they say, I'll be there anyway
Waiting around for the flip of another day
Soft surprise in your clear blue eyes
And while I'm waiting here,
What could be more clear?

Yesterday you saw a white bird, you always were
One of those people who notices.
I turned to see it, but for me it's
Just one of those things that I'll always miss
So won't you be my eyes
When I'm blinded
And come sit beside me, I'll hear you describing the rays
Of the setting sun.

Ghosts

If I become a ghost, I will wear a bright red tie
A green overcoat, and makeup on my eyes
I'd lose the chains and the howling screens
For a whistle and a red nose
And my shoes would be too big
And with the floppy soles, you might never know
But I would dance around your bedroom
Balancing a bowling pin on my head
I would trampoline into a kiddie-pool full of water
To see you laugh again

If you become a ghost, you will come to me in waves
All around me as I float across this wide, wide lake
And the coldest springs and the darkest rains
Would be falling all over me
And over time all my days would run on
Until they finally all run dry
But somebody told me a joke once
I'm gonna get it wrong just like I always do
Something about St. Peter at heaven's gate
One hand upon a book of names
The other showing you the way

Maybe it'll be just like they said
The tunnel out
The pearly gates
The dime store halos on their heads
For all we know, it'll be just like they said.
For all we know.
But after all this grace, could there be more grace to go?

We will find out soon enough,
We are speeding away from the past
It's so hard to let the days go by
But it's harder to make 'em last
And all the older people in our
Lives know so much more than we ever will
And I know it's just the way of things
The way of things
The way of things
But it'll take a bull to break me
It'll take a runaway freight train

Darling I will always be there for you
I'll always be there for you
I'll always be there

My Halo

My will to survive is what makes me so nervous
And makes me such a burdensome friend
Everybody keeps on talking about "Live for the moment"
But, oh, every moment ends.

When I first came to the city I was already jaded
I was all ready to believe
That all my best choices were already made
And just fading away from me

But I'm a long way from my halo.
I'm a long way from my home
In the host of golden angels
And I will not be for long

I boiled it all down for my friend at a wedding
Where I drank so much I burned my thumb
He just laughed and he handed me a drink and a smoke
And he said, "Wait till your baby comes."

'Cause you're a long way from your halo
You're a long way from your home
In the host of golden angels
But you will not be for long

And who will you love, who will you trust when you must
Who will you hold on to
And what do you see in your dreams of the future
What do you believe?


My will to survive is what makes me so nervous
And makes me such a burdensome friend
Everybody keeps on talking about "Live for the moment"
But, oh, every moment ends.

And I'm a long way from my halo.
I'm a long way from my home
In the host of golden angels
In the dust of days remembered
On a pullout couch in God's Great Big House
But I will not be for long

Sound of Voices

Wendy waits for the winter to pass
With her face pressed against the subway glass
With the hard-bitten crowds at her sides
And lunatics all in it for the ride
And with a gesture of holy defeat
Watch her raise her eyes and give up her seat
Just to have something to be proud of
While she's creeping underground beneath the streets.

The whole train is full and it's standing room and it's push and pull
And nobody meets her eyes and suddenly she realizes
She's read the same subway poem 16 times
It's all about the poet's father and how much he loved
And how young he died
And someone screams at her, "Do you believe?"
Under 14th Street and she says,
"Believe me, I believe" and she looks away.
And the train carries her on through her day.
But she wants to fly away

From the madness of unfinished business
The dream of survival, the rage of fitness
The soft horizon of last-minute choices
The hypnotizing sound of voices

Outside the snow is high,
Everybody stands in line.
She takes her place
She sets her face
And she's gone, gone, gone.
Lost in a song she heard yesterday:
"Da da da..."

Oh the madness of unfinished business
The dream of survival, the rage of fitness
The soft horizon of last-minute choices
The hypnotizing sound of voices

Slip Away

Is it me, is that the same tree?
Is it changing leaves?
Is it getting colder?
And you laugh, tell me I'm slow.
Like I don't know
That I'm getting older
But you look just like you do
In a picture I took of you
A long time ago
Would you laugh if I told you
All those years ago
Seem like yesterday
Don't days slip away?


And you tell me I'm thinking too much
And drinking for the wrong reason
But your eyes darken
And clouds gather around you
When it changes season
So I know you feel the same
And I know how long it's been
Since your heart was easy
Would you laugh if I told you
All those years ago
Feel like yesterday
Don't days slip away?
Don't days slip away?
Don't days slip away?
Don't days...

Sugar Baby

Sugar baby, such a long time ago
That I barely even know
I remember all the things that you did
I remember what you said

Once you come to ground
There'll be nothing left to do but settle down
And once you get me home,
there'll be nothing left to do but be alone

Once you spend the night
There'll be nothing left to do but see the light
And once you come to ground
Maybe your heart will settle down

Almost Gone

Oo, lookout baby, I can hear her cry
It's the first blue day of our brand new life
And the whole world is a cloudless sky
That fades into the future of your clear blue eyes
Till it's almost gone
It's almost gone
It's almost gone

And now this feeling, like a fallen tree
In the weight of the way that we used to be
As she walks away from me
With her promises still echoing
But almost gone
Almost gone
Almost gone

So, weather changes - but farther on
Our new blue day is a broken storm
With fields of rain that we cannot stop
But faith is as faith does
and it's almost gone
Almost gone
almost gone
almost gone

7th Avenue

When even a Sunday drive can't drive away
The feeling that I've got miles and miles to go to get through the day
then I'll take a walk with you
Down 7th Avenue

When even my nightmares lose their glamor of suspense
and fill up with bad stocks, punching clocks, paying way too much for rent
Then I'll take a walk with you
Down 7th Avenue

So, get your shoes
The white ones, that look so good on you
I don't want to lose
The last light in your eyes, with that shade of blue

When even the sound of music crashes in my ear
and everything I play all day sounds a little insincere
Then I'll take a walk with you
down 7th Avenue


My heart beats faster in the sun and when you laugh my only one.
Our happy ending has begun my closest friend my only one
My melody, my favorite song, my steady beat, my only one.

May Morning

So, did you hear the phone just ring
Or was it ringing in my dreams
Would you give me one more hour to sleep
Just let me sleep, let me sleep
On a May morning
Just before the summer comes again

You move around the house just like
A honey bee, like a honey bee
I can see you buzzing round the garden
Sweet as you could ever be
On a May morning
Just before the summer comes again

Out the window from the bedroom
I can see that crazy bird
That always goes after the cars
He doesn't know

He seems so neurotic and protective
I suppose he loves someone

And I can hear you from the kitchen
Saying "Help me please. Why can't you see
How much we have to do today?"
And I cannot see. But I can almost see.
On a May morning
Just before the summer
On a May morning
Just before the summer
On a May morning
Just before the summer comes again.

All Right

Harry asked me what it's like to be married
And I sat and sighed and I said it's so much more than you expect.

It's all right, you can spend the night side by side
reading out loud until the light comes through your window like a surprise.

But sometimes, deep in the middle of a long night
It gets a little confused, a little emotional, a little uptight

(and someone says) Don't you want this baby to get born
I just need a little time alone
Why can't your friends even say hello
This year let's spend christmas on our own.
But it's all right

But anyway, some days are easier than other days
Some days you want to go driving
Miles and miles away
With the radio, the wind in your hair and a Marlboro
And no one to care or complain

And don't you want this baby to get born
I just need a little time alone
Why can't your friends even say hello
This year let's spend christmas on our own.
But it's all right

Sundress

I feel tired but I'm
Still so wired
I can't fall asleep

I hear a girl on the
street she's singing
and it sounds so sweet

These are the moments I hope
I will remember
when I'm old

Here in the last days
before november
in our big city home

December, on a plane trip
My third red wine, as I took my first trip
My heart settled down
And you held my hand
As we left the ground
to fly

Out in the country we get
Loads of company
They come and drink our beer

They smoke their cigarettes
And push back the wilderness
And I'm so glad they're here.

The new year, and the long, long nights
Ice in the air, by kerosine light
All the bad jokes and the good lies
And eyes that shine
And how the time
Just flies

And I watch you outside
Planting flowers
In the garden, in the spring

In the sunshine
In the sunshine
I know it's your favorite thing.

And I found a picture of my
great grandmother that I showed you
In her sundress, in her flower garden
She frowns at the camera but
She's just starting
To smile

Almost Home

Well I'm almost home
And I know all the roads
And they look the same
As they did when I was young

It was years ago
I was bright-eyed, half-baked
and all hope
And the things I didn't know
And I'm still all hope
But now I'm almost home

How can I feel like this
Along the streets of this town,
With its maze of faces, its traffic, its crowds
I guess I've been around
So long it's almost home

That's the way the world spins around
Since the girl that I found
Settled down with me
In New York City
Where I never thought I'd be
Maybe that's why it's so strange to me

That I'm almost home
And with every step I put down
I get closer and closer
And sooner than you know
I will be
Home

And I'm almost home
And I know all the roads
And they look the same
As they did when I was young

Firefly

You made it out into the wide world
Like I said you should, but I wish you would be more at ease.
Sometimes it feels like you're walking alone
Through the bones of graveyard of dreams.
And it's a shame the way you talk to me
As if you want my sympathy.
Baby, it takes time
Sometimes you're so blind
You can't read your own mind.

You call me up to say, "The weather's strange, it never rains
And nobody complains about the sunshine.
It's like they can't imagine any other life
It's like they've never been alone or had a bad time."
And it's a shame, with all the sidewalks line
With silver stars it's still so hard to find your way
But give it one more day,
Give it one more day.

Don't you know you've got it made
Don't you know it's gonna be okay
Don't you love the sun in your eyes
Don't you love the sight of fireflies
Don't you think you'd fly
Like a butterfly
If you had the wings
So would I.

So, what if your love is too tough? And what if she never picks up her stuff?
And what if you'll never be a star?
You can smile and you can say, "It's all about the future."
But it's all about right where you are.
And it's a shame how she could just walk away.
And it's a shame it's not a brighter day,
But it's fine. With a little time
You'll leave it all behind.

Don't you know you've got it made
Don't you know it's gonna be okay
Don't you love the sun in your eyes
Don't you love the sight of fireflies
Don't you think you'd fly
Like a butterfly
If you had the wings
So would I.