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Tick Tock


encaustic wax art by Lea

Don't you wish you could stop... spinning around like a top? This rock and roll punk song began in Victoria with my good friend, Ron Nielson and the No Stranger Band. Rocking Ronny and the Doll (I was the Doll) played a few bars, pizza joints and city streets in Victoria and Vancouver. I had bright pink rocked out hair at the time. Rolled in rag curls with my best fake pearl necklace on, we went to the old prison in New Westminster for a photo shoot. We even snuck across the train tracks illegally where my dad, Dan Lybarger took one incredible shot.


"Are the cops gone?"



We we were naughty that day, tagging the walls at the back of the prison where no one could see us. Dad was all too happy to comply, being the break the rules kind of guy. We had a blast as you can see, hamming it up for the camera.That summer, Ron had rainbow hair - I think he was always ahead of his time. He started writing this song in that first year we were together. I loved the hook but Ron never finished it, so I did. The original title was: 'Reality Clock' but people kept asking me to sing Tick Tock, hence the name change. I slowed it down from the original version and jazzed it up a bit. Bill Taylor plays a few tasty guitar leads while Gerry Potter blows pretty good on the saxophone. Like Steve Miller says, "Time keeps on ticking ticking ticking into the future..." this song delves into the reality that we do not know when our time is up. So, until the ticking stops on our clock, remember to Love, Laugh and Dance. ~*.*~ Lea Sheldan



The Band in 1986

This poem emerged Friday after I heard someone on the telly say: "One Night In Montenegro". I immediately went into the kitchen and told Mark that we had to write a poem or a song. So here it is:

One night in Montenegro


One night in Montenegro

On the Adriatic Sea

Deep in the Balkan Country

Across from Italy

There was an evil brewing

Upon the weathered fjord

The bears and wolves were howling

At the moon over Kotor


On the misty mountain crag

Where no one dares to go

The medieval fairy, Alkima

Was swaying to and fro

When midnight spreads her darken wings

The hour is lost and late

She watches closely guarding life

Within the Fairy’s Gate


Beyond when time remembers

A myth is often told

That high up on the jagged knoll

A magic garden grows

On bloodstained soils from tribal wars

Where callous pirates fell

A place too close to Heaven

Some say too close to Hell


There’s potent buds of healing herbs

And flowers seldom seen

The rarest of the rarest plants

And treasures full of dreams

Spirits guard the flora

With spells as dark as coal

Enter if you dare to breathe

The last gasp of your soul


Some trees are thick as elephants

At least three centuries old

The branches sweat the most expensive

Liquid on the globe

People come from distant lands

To taste the magic food

It makes them strong, it makes them wise

And offers long life too


But hidden in the jungle

Old vampires live and feed

On those who dare to wander by

In search of sacred seed

Werewolves, witches, demon fairies

All dwell on the hill

If you can sneak right by them

You won’t be their next kill


I shook off all the warnings

And headed up the trail

I had to find the hidden bridge

The garden in the dale

I shivered through the haunted woods

And swiftly climbed the ridge

I saw the bloody Tara River

Rushing ‘neath the bridge


The gate was closed, I bowed in awe

To Alkima the queen

She gazed at me surprised that I

Had gotten past the fiends

Her wings spread open strong and wide

Her lips a gentle grin

She opened up the iron gates

And beckoned me come in


I drank the wine and ate the fruit

A lucky strike, I’d say

A haze was cast upon me

As on the grass I lay

One night in Montenegro

Beneath a waxing moon

I dreamed I heard the fairies sing

An eerie ancient tune


written by Lea and Mark Sheldan

March 9, 2019


Fang Mountain by Mark Sheldan

To listen to a free version of 'Tick Tock' go to my songs page on my website:

www.leasheldan.com


To listen on Spotify click here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1F94bFYiM7dzk9vLWA6xL2?si=JJQnh1WTQEWJpTiD55VJ7A










Sing along with the lyrics below:


Tick Tock


Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock 2X

The clock keeps a-ticking pounding against the wall

Reality won’t leave me alone at all Tick tock Tick tock

People keep on marching past my house each day

I have the same fears they fear and the same hates they hate Tick tock Tick tock


Don’t you wish you could stop? Tick tock Tick tock

Spinning around like a top Tick tock Tick tock

Someone stop the ticking of the reality clock Tick tock Tick tock . . .


Say what time is it? It's time for change

What time is it? Time for change


One minute you’re out and the next you’re in Tick tock Tick tock

At times it gets you spinning around the bend Tick tock Tick tock

But people keep on talking, doesn’t matter what they say Tick tock Tick tock

Your time will come one of these days Tick tock Tick tock


Don’t you wish you could stop? Tick tock Tick tock

Spinning around like a top Tick tock Tick tock

Someone stop the ticking of the reality clock Tick tock Tick tock


Say, what time is it? It's time for change

What time is it? Time for change

Say what time is it? It's time for change


Tick tock Tick tock Tick tock 2X


Time to keep on learning get it while you can

Cause right around the corner might be the end


Don’t you wish you could stop? Tick tock Tick tock

You're spinning around like a top Tick tock Tick tock

Someone stop the ticking of the reality clock Tick tock Tick tock . . .


Time for change Time for change


Time to keep on learning get it while you can

Cause right around the corner might be the end


written by Ron Nielson and Lea Sheldan

copyright 1990 socan



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