McKINNIS, GOATES & BENNETT

Stiffwater's final album marks the end of the band's impressive 53-year run. Longtime members David McKinnis, Keith Goates and Jim Bennett cap off the band's career in true Stiffwater style with thought-provoking lyrics and their trademark tight and complex arrangements. Drawing from unrecorded material dating back to 1984, composer/vocalist David McKinnis wrote most of the songs, assisting Keith Goates with two of his compositions and Jim Bennett with one of his. Jim's concept for the opening track was arranged by Stiffwater alumni Aaron Johnson, who also assisted in the mixing and mastering of the album. The album was two years in production as the band worked meticulously in achieving a consistent sound that would readily identify this final statement. MGB was completed on September 18th and released on October 3rd of 2026.
Click on the album cover to listen to the entire album, or select the songs below that you wish to hear. Lyrics to the songs can be accessed by clicking the arrow on the right.
DAVID McKINNIS: Producer, vocals, guitars and keyboardsKEITH GOATES: Bass guitarsJIM BENNETT: Drums & Percussion
AARON JOHNSON: Incidental keyboards, effects, mixing & post production

STIFFWATER FOREVER - ICE

BLUE RIVIERA

ONLY DEATH IN THE CITY

HIGHLINER

THE GENERAL

SO THEY SAY

NIGHT GAME

1111

THE HAUNTED TOWER

PROG ICE

BONUS TRACK: FOOL

STIFFWATER is a member of the AJP artists roster and is exclusively available throughthis web site via theYou Tube STIFFWATER CHANNEL

STIFFWATER - MGB LYRICS

STIFFWATER FOREVER
Is this the end?...Goin' down Highway 26...Mother Mandy...I was a fool yeah to believe in you yeah...the band has arrived and now everyone come see the show...cylinder in space you are beautiful...soon to be lost from sight...prelude to space...there's a problem here that I can't seem to find and the answer's in my mind...the world we live in, is going 'round and 'round...and what you see is what you seek...all is one and one is all...hey! it's the earthmover...there goes the neighborhood...don't feed the machine...I won't be a prisoner, I will live a human dream...life or death living on the ledge, the risk is great running on the edge...the time is now...what's done is the done the song is sung...forever-forever-forever-forever...
AARON JOHNSON: Synthesizers and early Stiffwater recordings featuring significant lyrics sung by David McKinnis
MUSIC: Aaron Johnson, 2026CONCEPT: Jim Bennett, 2026
ICE
To be blinded by the light or by the truth, to be healed by the ice or by the wolfAnd still I stare, see nothing there forever
It's a fight for the soul, it's a derelict goal, it's a dead weight I've abandonedIt's a love that claims all that I've saved, it's my mind it steals at randomIt's the ice that's made all the colors fade, made the paint look peeled and crackedAnd while my eyes are glazed, I see beauty in the daze and I'm never looking back
I see the white wolf, I see the ice and I am sightless but I'm enticedI see the white wolf, I see the myth, and I am balanced on the edge of a rift
It's a wanton kiss, it's a steel fist, it's a love I've grown to cherishIt's the silver moon and the perfect bloom, it's a beauty that's the rarestStill the colors fade with all that I've made and the ice will always gleam in the whitenessNow my hands are numb and in the dying sun I finally find the proof in my blindness
I see the white wolf, I see the ice and I am sightless but I'm enticedI see the white wolf, I see the myth, and I am balanced on the edge of a rift
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis, 1984

BLUE RIVIERA
I didn't see a thing, I was just walkin' home, didn't hear no gunshot ring out, didn't see no flash of chromeI saw him in the shadows, he was just layin' there, he had that look about him that says he wasn't anywhere
I heard he's hooked on Jesus ----- Maybe he sang a bitI heard he knew the mayor ----- Maybe he couldn't quitNobody saw the lead-up ----- Nobody knew the guyHappens all the time ----- Nobody's gonna cry
He never saw the blue car comin', he never heard the gunHe didn't know that they were comin' for him, he had no chance to run
What if he saw some business? ----- Maybe he heard some talkCould be he got attention ----- Maybe just took a walkSome lug behind the eight ball ----- Tryin' to catch a rideWhen there's trouble comin' ----- There ain't nowhere to hide
I didn't see a thing, don't have too much to say, not gonna hang around now, so I'll be on my wayI'm goin' through the door now, I'm turnin' out the light, gotta figure out just how to disappear tonight
I drove right into the blue Riviera, had to get the job doneI knew damn well they were comin' at meHad my chance to run.... I had my chance to run... I had my chance to run... I had my chance to run... I had my chance to run...
MUSIC & LYRICS: Keith Goates, David McKinnis 2024

THE ONLY DEATH IN THE CITY
Alain was a boy, first-born toy, an embarrassment to all of his eldersErmine was a girl, older than the world, so many reincarnates she don't remember
Love's so strange, mirth and rage, just don't do things you'll regret in your next lifeAlain made a wager and things got stranger when Ermine conceded to be his wife
Jade and Onyx in the City of Lights, a room across from the otherStone is shelter from the searing sunlight, to breathe the air is to smotherReincarnate in the City of Lights, to have a soul, more's the pityYou'll live just once in the City of Lights if you can find the only death in the city
The wedding was arranged, everyone came including Death to seal the bargainShe said "after four years, through screaming and tears, I've come to collect for my own ends."
And so the elders barred the doors, they saw a "grand cycle" in its beginnings.And when the time came, Ermine cried for more, Alain could see that he was winning
Death was sublime and to Alain it was kind, he had ever-life and more on the sideFor Ermine, it would seem scorning love by twenty-three, she would cycle away by suicide
Jade and Onyx in the City of Lights, a room across from the otherStone is shelter from the searing sunlight, to breathe the air is to smotherReincarnate in the City of Lights, to have a soul, more's the pityYou'll live just once in the City of Lights if you can find the only death in the city
The only death...the only death...the only death in the cityThe only death...the only death...the only death in the city
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1984

HIGHLINER
From the east face of the 48th sector on a mountain of glass and steelMy vision is clear, I can touch the sky, it would make a resident's senses reel
I see the suburbs, I scan the ocean's breadth, I see the wild lands moving inI touch the structure I am climbing along, I am living in a latter-day Babylon
I am a highliner, and I'm living on a steel threadI am a highliner, yeah, one slip and I'm dead
I work for whole days in the altitude where the cold can freeze the mindWhen the wind blows, it can snatch you away, so you've got to believe in your lines
At one thousand floors you can see my point with the skylights waiting belowI'm one of the elite aerobatic engineers who without, this city could never have grown
I am a highliner, and I'm living on a steel threadI am a highliner, yeah, one slip and I'm dead
Some see us as tools to make and mendTo never recognize or comprehendIt doesn't matter to me, 'cause in the end
I am a highliner, and I'm living on a steel threadI am a highliner yeah, one slip and I'm dead
I am a highliner, and I'm living on a steel threadI am a highliner yes, one slip and I'm dead, one slip and I'm dead
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1984/2024

THE GENERAL
He was Arthur with Guinevere and Lancelot right by his sideHe was Caesar with Cleopatra near and Antony spoke when he diedAgamemnon who Breseis feared, Achilles died with his prideEternal triangle begins to entangle again the best-laid plans of mice and of men
He was Nicholas with Rasputin's beard, Alexandra feared for her childHe was Stalin, who Churchill feared as Roosevelt bided for timeThere was Thatcher, with Reagan's ear, John-Paul gave a spiritual cryEternal triangle begins to entangle again the best-laid plans of mice and of men
Now he's old and still quite bold and the moon seems to swell in the skyJust one more goal to break the mold and change the repetition left in his livesAnd when the sun finally wanes all that remains is faith, hope and liesEternal triangle begins to entangle again the best-laid plans of mice and of menEternal triangle begins to entangle again - oh - the best-laid plans of mice and of men
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1984

SO THEY SAY
Act like this and your sight will go away ----- So they say, so they sayBetter do your work before you play ----- So they say, so they sayDrink too much and you will pay ----- So they say, so they sayEat like this and you will live more days ----- So they say, so they say
Vote for them and your freedoms will decay ----- So they say, so they sayTen years from now the floods will wash you away ----- So they say, so they sayReject the law and you will surely pay ----- So they say, so they sayStudies show believe the things we say ----- So they say, so they say
Who are they?
LYRICS: Jim Bennett 2024MUSIC: Jim Bennett & David McKinnis

NIGHTGAME
There is nothing more to search for, no experience that hasn't been triedNo jokes, no clues, no books, no fools, their brain cells are all but fried
They play the Nightgame, they are dreamers one and allThey play the Nightgame, splash their minds against the wall
They have nothing left to ponder, they've had dreams from every mindTheir fantasies are gone it seems, now they're left to hunt their own kind
They play the Nightgame, they rack their bodies in the nightThey play the Nightgame, now only death is exquisite delight
They use machines to use themselves, to shout and scream and abuse themselves,Building steam they are compelled to dream the dreams and bleed the cells
They play the Nightgame, but now they're leeches one and allThey play the Nightgame, they splash their minds against the wallThey play the Nightgame, they are dreamers one and allThey play the Nightgame, splash their minds against the wall
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1984

1111
Four burning scars across a dark and bloody sun, defeat foretold before the battle had begunGreat rods of fire reaching upward to the sky, last circle of hell is where the fallen armies now lie
So it was the day the Great War ended on the day the next Great War beganInto the void a nation had descended and twilight fell upon the land
Sad broken bodies still and silent on the ground, in dirty linen, shattered widow cries aloudGreat mounds of sorrow, pyres burning day and night and only children left to set the rest alight
So it was the day the Great War ended on the day another war beganFor their crimes the guilty apprehended yet darkness fell upon the land
Heaven help us, will this madness never end? They come to slay us, here to free (or save) us they pretendHeaven help us, in the ashes we remain Will no one save us? There is nothing here but pain... There is nothing here but pain... There is nothing here but pain... There is nothing here but pain!
So it was the day the Great War ended as the day a brand new war beganWhen the innocent, the angry and the disenchanted took the world to war again
MUSIC & LYRICS: Keith Goates, David McKinnis 2024

THE HAUNTED TOWER
Visit the ghosts of ages past, innocence and guilt consumed en masseWhere lovers quarreled and poets wept, where soldiers failed and the hangmen slept
There's a boat waiting by the riverside, release the bolt, the oars splash and you're still stuffed with prideYou seem convinced that your innocence will set you free and you insist it's just a simple case of jealousy
You're caught in the wheel of revolving power and you still can't guess why you're heading for the towerWhere the martyrs die and madmen screamed, where the children cried and the axemen dreamed
And still you weave a pattern to erase the web, and you believe it's nothing that you've done or saidYou say they're civilized and they'd never do a thing like this, now you realize you're just a martyr in their politics
And the mob outside still wants your hide and now you realize they never planned to leave you aliveWhere the racks are gone with the chopping blocks and now you sing the songs with the ghosts that walk
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1984

PROG ICE
It's a fight for the soul, it's a derelict goal, it's a dead weight I've abandonedIt's a love that claims all that I've saved, it's my mind it steals at randomIt's the ice that's made all the colors fade, made paint the paint look peeled and crackedAnd while my eyes are glazed, I see beauty in the daze and I'm never looking back
I see the white wolf, I see the iceAnd I am sightless but I'm enticedI see the white wolf, I see the mythAnd I am balanced on the edge of a rift
It's a wanton kiss, it's a steel fist, it's a love I've grown to cherishIt's the silver moon and the perfect bloom, it's a beauty that's the rarestAnd still the colors fade with all that I've made and the ice will always gleam in the whitenessNow my hands are numb and in the dying sun I finally find the truth in my blindness
(I) See the white wolf, I see the ice (to be blinded by the light or by the truth)And I am sightless but I'm enticed (to be healed by the ice or by the wolf)I see the white wolf, I see the myth (and still I stare seeing nothing there)And I am balanced on the edge of a rift
I see the white wolf, I see the ice (to be blinded by the light or by the truth)And I am sightless but I'm enticed (to be healed by the ice or by the wolf)I see the white wolf, I see the myth (and still I stare seeing nothing there)And I am balanced on the edge of a rift
See the white wolf, I see the ice (to be blinded by the light or by the truth)And I am sightless but I'm enticed (to be healed by the ice or by the wolf)I see the white wolf, I see the myth (and still I stare seeing nothing there)And I am balanced on the edge of a rift (forever-forever-forever-forever)
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 2024

BONUS TRACK: FOOL
Oh sometimes I find it hard to wake up after last night, cause baby oh baby you really put up a fightSomeone should have warned me yesterday, yeah-oh now oh now, I've got to pay
I was a fool yeah, to believe in you yeah, I was so true and now I am the fool
You really knew what moved me in those deep, dark eyes, oh now I know what happened to twenty other guysYou got me in your bedroom and you clamped it shut, oh I hope you had enough, you got your cut
I was a fool yeah, to believe in you yeah, I was so true and now I am the foolI was a fool yeah, to believe in you yeah, I was so true and now I am the fool
You got me in a courtroom asked me what is my plea? I say I say I'm not guilty!You know that you got me in the palm of your hand, I used to be like rock now you crush me into sand
I was a fool yeah, to believe in you yeah, I was so true and now I am the fool
MUSIC & LYRICS: David McKinnis 1974/1984

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