Vienna Teng has to be my favorite living musician. For those unfamiliar with her, she is a songwriter and pianist. Her lyrics are always good, non-trivial, thoughtful, and sometimes rather inspired. She is also wonderful on the piano. Her compositions are cleaver musically and lyrically.
She has 3 cds, "Waking Hour", "Warm Strangers", and "Dreaming Through the Noise". Go buy them! I must admit that overall I prefer "Waking Hour" as I am less thrilled with most of her story songs which are more common on "Warm Strangers" (Shasta and Homecoming for example). "Dreaming Through the Noise" is an excellent new addition to her lineup and has some fabulous songs on it. It really shows how far Vienna has come over the years.
I've been asked what my favorite songs are. This is an interesting question, as some of my favorite are unplublished. My all time favorite might just be Signal Fire. Sometimes described as Harbor's big brother, it is her other attempt at progressive rock. She claims not to have mastered it yet and thus rarely playes it. I've requested it at concerts, which surpised her as it isn't well known, but she didn't play it. If you ever get a chance to hear it, then record it and share that recording with me. I have but two recording. My other favorites include Momentum, Gravity, Eric's Song, Lullabye for a Stormy Night, The Atheist Christmas Carol, Rainwalk Song (unpublished), In My Arrival (unpublished), Now Three, and Recessional.
In the deep dark recesses of the past, you can still dig up set lists that included songs such as "Cold Kind of July" and "it's me. but you wouldn't know that.". If anyone reading this has recordings of those, please, please share.
Lyrics of the unpublished songs I have recordings of
Signal Fire
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
warm breezes on the island shore
another night is setting in
I feed on the landscape and drink in the air
forgetting the deeper starvation
then a melody cry
some voice of distance
pull tight around me the voice of a man
fold right around me the arms of a man
if not for this dividing sea
he and I light our signal fires
the smoke memories of things to be
in realness our lives of streets and keys
and spiderweb wires
weave an ocean
dive unafraid and surface at the other's flame
oh wise desire
see his signal fire
then a melody cry
some voice of distance
torn innocence, the voice of a child
once born innocent, the heart of a child
maybe cries out for me
she and I light our signal fires
the sparks anger and hope combined
in realness the crushing ties that bind
to a passive despair
overcome this
dive unafraid and surface at the other's flame
lift it higher
see her signal fire
and the island is shelter
and the island is cold as the dark isolates me
if I stay here forever...
you and I light our signal fires
the flames all our love to be given away
in realness we're strangers and dare not to say
what the future may bear
I am searching
dive unafraid and call the other by name
your hidden pyre
I see your signal fire
Undone
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
there's a moment made of frozen hopes
put under lights in an empty space
in my little museum
and at closing time with crowds dissolved
I slip right past the velvet ropes
press my fingers to the case
and I hold you in my arms
this isn't where I should be
I stand and stare when I should run
why am I only waiting
for what can only come undone
you were hidden in a highway curve
solid lines a silent shield
against metal twisted cold
like sudden daylight there you were
took all I had just not to swerve
and slow instead to yield
but then your light was gone
Waking Hour
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
This is an instrumental. The main melody and themes seem to have turned into "Harbor".
Rainwalk Song
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
when I turn I hear the passing of an empty train
does it know
does it know there's no one waiting
when I turn I hear the passing of an empty train
does it know
does it know there's no one waiting
there's a man nearly over in the bed he built
does he know
does he know there's nothing waiting
there's a woman pacing back and forth with a telephone
does she know
does she know there's no one waiting
and up north they're breaking open all the virgin ground
do they know
do they know there's nothing waiting
across the world they're digging through the rubble calling out
do they know
do they know there's no one waiting
I don't fear -- oh I gave all that up long ago
for I know
for I know there's nothing waiting
a broken heart when it understands will heal anew
when it knows
when it knows there's no one waiting
Boy at the Pianno
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
Ten fingers. Ten dancers.
An uncanny intuition of when and how to pirouette
Eyes darting over the invisible page
Which is riddled with a road map
Of chords that guide without regret.
Into the precarious land of improvisation,
A one player band amid conversation.
Two hands, a measurin' leisure time
Two hands skimmin' over keys, "that's fine"
Says the girl in the corner, the kid on the ledge.
And the Boy at the Piano plays on...
Well often, I've come to watch him play.
And it seems to me so funny, he doesn't even know I'm there.
Well the music, it takes him to another world.
Sudden playful pauses, dramatic clauses,
Melodies from empty air.
Noontime master of improvisation,
A one player band amid conversation...
Rain in England
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
he says no one's gotta be high to know it
but it helps
see for yourself
you don't need to barely get by to know it
but total darkness is hard to find
stars drinking dry your mind
so it helps
see for yourself
someday my rain in england
someday
someday morocco pulsates
someday
someday mystery
evolves to familiarity
twist yourself until you break
and wake
two hands
a lighter
drops of water on my glasses
yellowed water in my glass
I can't hold on
gets brighter
I can't come back to where it passes
let this pass
someday my rain in england
someday
someday where she became her
someday
and I grieve and I grieve and I grieve
this isn't me
touch the wood taste the cedar
smell the asphalt in the street
gets brighter
this isn't me
he says the summer slipped on by without a dream
to hold on to
and that it's wrong to
and you can live your lie without a dream
but total lightness is rare indeed
winter solstice where you bleed
so hold on to
what is wrong to
twist yourself until you break
and wake
In My Arrival
Vienna Teng
Unpublished
I am not your angry servant
I am not your wasted time
give me all that you've been given
and I'll stand to speak your mind
but I have turned away from you
turned far away from it all
and in my arrival
triumphant in this crowded hall
I am not your spotlight haven
I am not your passionate voice
lived the moments all may covet
and I stand to make that choice
now impatient so you watch me
so now you want to shake my hand
I am left silent here
trying so hard to understand
who you are
and who you are in me
are you my welcome home
my rusted key
this much I'll know
who you are
and who you are in me
I am not your wrong direction
I am not your free at last
will you hail this generation
we're all moving much too fast
the colors bleed and I falter
reading my history out loud
I can't make out the pictures
I cannot be too proud
to hold on, to hold on...