The Show Lyrics by Anna May, written August 2016.

Song of the Day on KUTX Austin, 2024.
 

I'm wandering through the crowd

Wondering what they think of me

I am waiting in the bathroom line 

Contemplating the leaves and the trees

Then I'm staring at my shoes 

 

The self contained bohemians 

Gaze through cosmic mediums

They are waiting for a sign 

Sheepishly aggressive 

While they count their change in line

 

And the girls in the bathroom line

Ruby lipstick, uptown style

Safe inside of their disguise 

I see a little sadness 

In the corner of their eyes 

I'm shifting from side to side 

In the middle of the song 

Checking off lists of distractions 

Resting on my laurels while 

I'm contemplating action

 

Such strange ways we navigate this maze

Arms rolling, arms are crossed

Pretending to be these things we're not 

The woman in seat 2G

I think she thinks she knows 

Something about me 

 

Don't you tire of the latest styles

We are all willingly beguiled 

I'm rolling like a soccer ball

Down every single aisle

We don't speak in words 

Just in apathetic smiles 

 

Down beneath the candelabra

There are well conveyed motifs

Loquacious New York mothers 

Muster up some sympathy 

We all bow down together 

On the desert floor 

Singing louder than the lion's roar

With the tamers and the thieves

We all remain inside the confines 

Of these shelters of belief 

 

And though the sky is opening 

They're keeping us inside 

It's just another metaphor of life 

Before the show begins 

We must remain in line 

Trying to find something 

To make us feel more alive 

And picking from a bouquet 

Of obscure acquired tastes 

Everybody tries to win

At this artificial race

And sometimes I feel 

A little out of place 

 

We wonder where our souls did go

The cool kids are sitting in the second row

Lazy rhymes refuse to flow

This room teems with a kind of wise resentment 

And everybody knows 

But the truth is that no one knows 

If they wanna stay or if they 

Wanna go

Underneath the bleachers

There's a channel of expression

There's some lies and confessions 

Just a poet's profession 

 

There's a brooding songstress

In the auditorium air 

Sleek and stylish 

With strawberry hair 

Ripping through clouds

Of suppressed emotion 

 

Wonders where to direct 

Her ultimate devotion 

Fluctuating between 

Incoherence and clarity 

Hurling out her reveries 

To you and me 

 

Somebody is making a move

Out of the corner of my eye

Somebody is dressing out of style 

Somebody is fixing dinner and 

Some dreamer is running wild 

 

Just some false expression 

Just a momentary guise

Let go of all the things you cling to 

And the shelter it provides 

We are unconsciously trained 

In these ways of life 

Sincerity and spite 

 Believing all the hype 

It's all about what 

We choose to invite 

 

These acquaintances have earned our trust 

And we put faith in what 

They have perceived of us 

Maybe tomorrow 

Could be today 

Watch out for the moment when 

The splendor of the show finally 

Withers away 

 

I'm wandering through the crowd 

Wondering what they think of me 

I'm waiting in the bathroom line 

Contemplating the leaves and the trees 

And I'm staring at my shoes 

Fireflies and Buffalo Lyrics by Anna May, written July 2025. 

 you were mine in the dim firefly light 

We stay alive like fireflies shine 

 I hate to see you die 

Like a firefly

But you will follow me 

To the end of time 

Follow me 

Until I’m barely alive  

My heart flutters

Just to call you my lover

My past is passing by

This ship speeds into sky

We will soar or sink

Live or die

Grow or shrink

Or waste our time

You say the road is tough

But haven’t I suffered enough 

Need some satin sheets, city streets

And a face made up with blush

The journey was rough

But I’m enlivened

If I weren’t a pessimist 

I would be thriving 

But maybe I’m letting go

In the shadow of a Buffalo

I see fireflies 

And the heartache of their afterglow 

And it's enough 

We learn to get tough 

Accustomed to wonder 

Never wanting another 

But it's a death wish 

Or it's kismet

The path that led to you 

Now my life's already through

Fireflies and buffalo

How did we get down so low?

In the green prairie at twilight 

We are the disappearing glow

Something nobody could imagine 

Dreadfully out of fashion  

I kiss your lips 

I'm writhing with passion 

 you were mine in the dim firefly light 

We stay alive like fireflies shine 

I hate to see you die  

Like a firefly  

But you will follow me 

To the end of time 

Follow me 

Until I’m barely alive   

I wonder why 

A buffalo could never fly 

I’m peering into his green eyes

Hooves beat upon the sunsets of Italian skies

But his feet are planted to the ground 

Kicking restless hooves around 

Is the buffalo you or me?

Heavy laden with carnivals of shame and misery

 It's white, it's trying to outshine 

The firefly that it can’t find 

A firefly flickers and fades 

It doesn’t need to rule the day 

When I cut into his luscious locks 

I realize that it's all he's got 

And I'd be the firefly any day 

I'm light as a feather in any terrain 

Magic in the sunshine or in the rain 

What does the buffalo have to say?

Nothing important 

I was two steps away from a jail cell

And he watched me on my waltz with Hell

A buffalo can’t kiss a firefly 

So unlikely, you and I  

They are ghosts in rainstorms 

The imminent death of a summer’s night 

Hangs on us like a psychic’s knife  

It took a moment for you

To take a lifetime

It's alright, buffalo 

You've got a drink and a place to roam

The mystique of your waning glow 

The shadow of a prince the whole world knows 

You don't need to chase my light 

You've got the bar's dim Saturday night 

I hear the buffalo say that I’m a bitch 

But I’ve been weaving heaven’s stitch 

The world is at my fingertips 

You can feel it moving in my hips

Fireflies and Buffalo

You’re the careful art of letting go 

Straight to the heart of what I’ll never know

A goodbye disguised as Hello

An ever present fading glow 

Sacramento written by Anna May

Oh I cried a million tears for you

In the hills, the deserts and the prairies too

In the shadow, a gold rush town 

Something vague is dragging us down

Like an ancestral weight 

On the day you told me my fate  

Chorus :

Let’s go to Putah Creek

In this desolation where we can speak 

In the arms of a hundred cypress tress

He said to me I’ll meet the one I love, someday

Thought my traveling days were over

Thought my heart had been growing colder 

But everything burned

When I returned to Sacramento

In the garden that you plot 

I became another after thought 

Even after you assured me 

My life would change 

The day I came to Sacramento 

The bay is too far away

Stuck in this valley the whole long day 

Dirt on my face, a smug smile on yours 

As if we were fighting a prolonged and sacred war 

What’s it like to miss some place?

What’s it like to miss your face? 

Yet you looked like a stranger

The first day I met you

After I landed in Sacramento 

 We kissed like strangers in a parking garage 

I didn't know that I was between your claws  

Lovers lie up and down the coast 

Yet I'll be haunted by your ghost 

On a playground 

a rental car in park

Some red wine, and out past dark

It's a year past that, you're still not off my mind 

And the persistent jet lag is 

Keeping perfect time 

I miss the summer eves 

Won't you take me out to the sea 

Or stick it out, its 100 degrees 

There’s no such thing as the Delta breeze 

I didn't see that the world was burning 

I didn't know that my life was turning 

Until I went to Sacramento 

Deep in the olive trees 

We’re in past our knees (your lips on me)

Far from a sweet reprieve 

And far from our dreams 

Like dry bones on haunted land

I thought you were a better man 

So if you’re empty handed 

I know you couldn’t have planned it 

If you made it, if you could stand it

Tell me what you learned 

When you returned from Sacramento