China Lake (David Baerwald and David Ricketts)

We’ve done this every Labor Day since 1969
We all go up to China Lake to spend a little time
In a Minnesota summer, beneath a Minnesota sky
We celebrate the newborns, we remember those who’ve died
At China Lake . . .
We’re all worried about Richard, he sits staring through the day
That straw hat on his head, and nothing much to say
At night, I hear him wandering through the trees
And down the lanes of China Lake . . .
He was always known for brooding
But, this year there’s been a change
I’m not the only one that’s noticed
Something ain’t the same
At China Lake . . .
But there’s a shine, there’s a shine on China Lake
The vistas they stretch out forever
A shine, there’s a shine on China Lake
Here its’ only quiet, no hurricanes or riots
But hovering there behind it
The pain and the shame of surrender
Last night, I had this dream, it was a strange dream indeed
I cut my arm a thousand times, but nowhere did I bleed
The crippled were out dancing, and the blind they all could see
And a vendor selling streamers walked the quiet empty streets
Of China Lake . . .
And there was a pale horse, it was a pale horse that I rode
And I sat there by the shoreline, I watched the sky explode
At China Lake . . .
There’s a shine, a shine on China Lake
The vistas they stretch out forever
A shine, a shine on China Lake
Here it’s only quiet, no hurricanes or riots
But hovering there behind it
The pain and the shame of surrender
These are strange uncertain days . . .
These are strange uncertain days . . .

© 1992 Zen of Iniquity Music and 48/11 Music (ASCAP)