From the recording A Bat Flying in the Night
"I see the stars that shine like guided missiles, falling softly through the evening skies..."
Michael R. J. Roth was the winner of the 2019 NSAI Song Contest for lyric writing, and received a Gold Award from the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest for lyrics. He has been called "a cool dark troubadour" and "an amazing writer" by fans and industry professionals, evoking a mix of Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon and others with lyrics known for their intriguing imagery and "deep, profound truth." He is featured in the Great American Song Hall of Fame, and is known for his award-winning, original acoustic songs with "the kind of lyrics that make Nashville writers salivate." NSAI named him "One to Watch." Lori McKenna called him "brilliant."
Lyrics
A Bat Flying in the Night
© 2019 Michael R. J. Roth
I’ve been draggin’ these old songs around
Like suitcases of clothes that smell like hell
I’ve got a feeling that the devil has been on to me
He knows about the stories I can never tell
The shadow on the floor is staring back at me
Daring me to make my getaway
From all the shady figures I pretend to be
And then there is that better man standing in my way
Chorus:
As all my fantasies take flight
Leaving me with nowhere else to stand
I’m like a bat flying in the night
Singing songs to find out where I am
I pick up songs like sentimental snow globes
Souvenirs from an antique shop
That come to life whenever they are shaken
And settle down in frozen time the moment that you stop
You could say there’s nothing in the desert
But maybe it’s just something you don’t see
Like the men who walked away from Galilee
Wondering what rising from the dead might really mean
(Chorus)
Bridge:
I see the stars that shine like guided missiles
Falling softly through the evening skies
In an atmosphere of unexploded wishes
And the unexpected love that always takes me by surprise
The Milky Way is stretched across the heavens
Fragile as a single strip of gauze
Fantastic as the stories that are written
On a thin page of the Bible between nothingness and God
(Chorus)