No Escaping from This Place — An adult traveler walks a surreal sunny Merced motel courtyard where roads, fences and canals loop playfully back to the same garden

The songbook

No Escaping from This Place

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr. Listen to the recorded versions and follow the lyric below.

Original Doug Heyes lyrics · AI-generated music & vocals

Childhood freedom and an imagined fairytale romance give way to confinement, isolation and the loss of a familiar world. The narrator's painted smile conceals despair as he searches memory and music for escape. A dangerous moment above the river leads into a final imagined reunion, leaving longing and release deeply entangled.

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Recorded versions

3 recordings. Different voices and arrangements bring another side of the song into the light.

Lyrics

No Escaping from This Place

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr

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NO ESCAPING FROM THIS PLACE

It used to be when we were young
We liked to have a little fun
We'd go flying through the trees
Fly our kites in the Summer breeze
When the day would slip away
We get on our knees to pray
Then we'd sleep the Night away
And Dream of Castles far away

I was your Knight in shining armor
You were my Maiden Fair
I could feel your Sunshine
And smell the Garland in your hair
All the kids would sing along
It was then, something went wrong
And what was once a sweet love song
Turned away and then was gone

Now, There's No Escaping From This Place
I keep my smile painted on
My hometown of Lake Woebegone
Is gone, so far gone….
I'm left with my imagination
It doesn't save the situation
I disappear without a Trace
There's No Escaping From This Place

From Nightingale to Meadowlark
I make a shadow from a spark
A shooting star flies into Space
And here you are, so close to my face
A castoff with no Saving Grace
A blastoff from the human race
My Heart and Soul are laid to waste
There's Still No Escaping From This Place

I’m behind an Old Stone wall
With no one really here at all
Imprisoned but still captivated
Where the waterfalls cascaded
Unmanned and unsituated
Love is truly overrated
Maybe just infatuation
Just another cold waystation

I'm standing on an iron rail
Above the River Wild
There’s a little voice inside of me
From when I was just a child
I can hear the four Winds wail
Down through the River canyon
And I believe I’ll be set free
Right here where I'm standing

If you should ever come to me
I won't be hard to find
You’re Melody, I'm Harmony
In the Echoes of my Mind
Woven in a silken tapestry
On the far side of the Line
I can see the smile upon your face
When we Escape From This Place
********

© Douglas Heyes Jr. All rights reserved.