Information/Write-up
Released in 1985 on his own Cactus Records label, Humors stands as one of John Lyle’s most intimate and enduring albums — a work that bridges wry observation with spiritual searching, humour with heartbreak. Recorded in Crescent Beach, British Columbia, it captures a songwriter who had stepped away from the music industry yet remained deeply attuned to its poetry. The songs are literate and lean, balancing satire (“When I’m a P.H.D.”), revelation (“I Saw God”), and quiet grace (“Oh My Wind”).
Lyle wrote much of Humors in the calm that followed his earlier records Bootleg Powerhead (1971) and Hard Cover Virgins (1978), the latter recorded with his longtime collaborator John Murray (Papa Bear’s Medicine Show, The Poppy Family). Murray returned here as co-writer of “Oh My Wind,” a beautifully phrased song of longing and freedom that found new life in 2025, when Anthology Recordings / Mexican Summer included it on their compilation Maybe I’m Dreaming. The label is now preparing a full reissue of Humors, bringing Lyle’s work to an international audience for the first time.
The album’s understated production and lyrical sharpness reflect Lyle’s dual life as a writer and working man. Having left academia for performing, and later left performing for the Post Office, he spent his days walking the streets of White Rock, drawing inspiration from the details of ordinary life. That mix of humour, intelligence, and compassion runs through Humors: songs not written to chase a trend, but to make sense of the world — and to stay sane within it.
John often referred to this period as one of renewal, anchored by family and his enduring friendship with Murray. Their creative bond lasted for decades, culminating in their 2020 collaboration “We Must Be Patient,” which Lyle described as containing some of Murray’s finest guitar work.
Though Humors flew largely under the radar upon release, its rediscovery underscores what admirers such as Frazey Ford, Paul Rodgers, and filmmaker Robert Altman have long known: John Lyle is a master craftsman of melody and meaning — a folk poet who walks softly but leaves lasting footprints.
-Robert Williston
Lyrics for "Humors"
1. HOW ROMANTIC OF ME
All locked into something the psychics can’t control
And the rainbow-fingered hordes are in a hole
With all of their possessions, beyond grief and past the dawn
While I work to hold back my yellow yawn
How romantic of me, how romantic of me
How romantic of me all along
How romantic of me to have eaten my degree
And passed it, Lord, I must learn how to ski
How romantic of me to keep my interest in a sack
And how romantic to keep keeping track
How romantic of me, how romantic of me
How romantic of me, coming back
All along the river inspectors take their counts
While up the country gurus climb the mount
Holy little brothers bathe their souls in burning bleach
While I work on my music on the beach
How romantic of me, how romantic of me
How romantic of me not to preach
2. BLASTED IN HOPE
In and out and out and in the ocean breezes blow
I been waiting for that sweet ride, like an ordinary orphan in the sand
Let me take my stand, soul dance in your hand
To tinsel tunes from silver stars, oh baby
Sweet low down and all around the lone star whistle blows
I been trying to make connection with my fast and lonesome
Southern dixie flyer, stream-lined and winding fire
Stone-blown through the sky, to what’s behind our lost tomorrow, baby
Eat the flesh and suck the bone and drink my blood like wine
I’ll come crashing through your window
Like a hot and heartless steaming Philistine
Full out to break your spine, smash your dreams on the door
To what’s behind our lost tomorrow, baby
Longing eyes are hypnotized inside the last sunbow
Let’s protect the same illusion, while the harvest moon is still a memory,
Eventual ecstasy’s a blockade to the star
And what’s behind our lost tomorrow, baby
3. OH, MY WIND
(John Murray & John Lyle)
Oh the wind is like a friend of mine, she is fickle to a fault
One minute solid as a tree, and the next not worth her salt
(Chorus)
That’s why she’s so fine, that’s why she’s not mine
Think of all she’s touched, still she gives so much…
Oh, my wind, where you been, I thought you said you’d write
Oh, my wind, where you been, I waited up all night
Oh the wind is like a friend of mine, she has a temper like a carving knife
She doesn’t do it to be mean, but now and then she’ll take a slice
Repeat chorus
Some blue Monday I’ll be under such a heavy cloud
With no way to turn my lonely head but down
Then my wind will blow on in and turn my life around
She’ll come runnin’, I’ll bet she’s thumbin’, just outside of town
Oh the wind is like a friend of mine, her fatal flaw is her saving grace
If she didn’t get around, I’d never see her lovely face
Repeat chorus
4. I SAW GOD
By accident I took a double dose of L.S.D.
I saw God inside my mirror and He looked a lot like me
Maybe two, three inches shorter, and a little sparse on top
He was cleaning his glasses, He was cleaning his glasses
With the blood of a lamb chop
I said, God, what you doin’ hung out in my mirror
He said takin’ a vacation, man, you never see me here
I said, God, I see you now, and when I wanna shave
I’ll have to drop my razor, I’ll have to drop my razor.
I’ll have to drop my razor and wave
God said, what have you been eating
I said Owsley’s L.S.D.
He said, go and count your marbles, kid
You’re lucky you still see
They’re not here, they’re over there, He said
So over there I go, and count my marbles
Count my marbles, count my marbles slow
When wonder piled on wonder up my alley I can see
God inside a cat’s-eye cleaning salmon with a key
5. WE MUST KNOW
Chorus:
We must know what really happened (gonna tell ya)
We must know what really happened (I can smell ya)
Mr. Hollywood came knockin’ at the door
He said, what’s a big star like you doin’, baby
Not working anymore
Big star said, I don’t know, maybe it’s my age
Sometimes I think they’re laughing at me
Then he flew into a rage
Repeat chorus
Big star spelled his drink and swore into the Montecito sun
Mr. Hollywood said, baby, wait’ll you hear what I done
We’re on the red-eye to the apple, we’ll get a limo to Times Square
We’ll find a most outstanding mugging, the paparazzi will be there
You’ll save someone or other from the vicious junkie hordes
And when the story hits the tabloids it will strike responsive chords
Repeat chorus
Now wait a little minute, said the big star as he hid
His face behind his glass, he said let’s not and say we did
And that’s what really happened, and that’s why he’s back to work
And I’ll bet you thought the big star wasn’t nothin’,
Wasn’t nothin’, wasn’t nothin’, wasn’t nothin’ but a jerk!
6. WHEN I’M A P.H.D.
When I’m a P.H.D., no one will dare to question me
Except the other P.H.D.’s, but not when I’m on TV
Where everyone will worship me, oh Jehovah!
P.H.D., P.H.D., I will be a P.H.D
With a bona fide degree made out to me
When I’m a P.H.D., I’m gonna share my salary
With all my family for everything they did for me
To help me finally get to be
A P.H.D., P.H.D., I will be a P.H.D
With a bona fide degree made out to me
At our parties all us smarties will let down our hair
Stand on a chair, bare as you dare, you can stare
But we won’t care
When I’m a P.H.D., no ivory tower will fall on me
In my professional building by the sea
Where I’ll teach everyone to be
A successful PHD like me, why don’t you be like me
7. GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
This little bubble, this black cauldron of trouble
The starry-eyed call mother earth
Can blow all to hell, clean the air of the smell
But that’ll just add to my mirth
Going through the moves, going through the motions
Everything we choose is a preconceived notion
There are no heroes and there are no villains
Just us little computer children
Going through the moves, going through the motions
Every means is an end, every end is a potion
Going through the moves, going through the motions
Every means is an end, every end is a potion
Fight fire with water, fight hate with love
Wake up before push comes to shove
No one deserves credit, no one deserves blame
No one deserves a fortune, no one deserves fame
No one deserves a great big mansion or a ghetto full of pain
No one deserves what they get, but they get it just the same
Going through the moves, going through the motions
A new world awaits based on the notion
We accept one another like the wind and the rain
Free as the birds and bees in our chains
8. RANCHERO
Refrain:
We have ranchero, we have mucho dinero,
In our world not a care-o,
Ay yi yi yi yi yi
We can depend on our hacienda
To defend us when the four winds blow
No matter how bad the weather may be,
We always will have somewhere to go
So when the clouds frown upon us
And the rains try to drown us
And the wind is beating at our door
There’s a song we’ll be making
While the snowflakes are flaking
And it goes like this, Senor
Repeat refrain
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