B i o g r a p h y (by Darryl Cater)
Over the Rhine had already developed a large and intensely loyal following in its native Cincinnati, OH, before they independently released their first two albums, Till We Have Faces (1991) and Patience (1992). Their music, which they aptly dubbed "post-nuclear, pseudo-alternative, folk-tinged art-pop," is difficult to pigeonhole. They have been compared to 10,000 Maniacs, the Innocence Mission, U2, and Shawn Colvin, but the band's personality seems to owe more to their literary influences (which include Dylan Thomas, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot). They drew attention to their independent albums with their attractively arty CD packaging, and when IRS signed them in 1992, Patience became the first album in the label's history to be re-released with its original indie cover art. But 1994's Eve would end up the only album the band would record on an IRS budget (with the exception of a slightly touched-up re-release of Till We Have Faces in 1995). When the label was bought out in 1996, Over the Rhine escaped from its five-record contract, fearing a loss of artistic autonomy. By the end of the year the band had released two imaginatively sparse acoustic CDs on its own: Good Dog Bad Dog and The Darkest Night of the Year, a melancholy Christmas album. 1996 also saw significant personal changes for all four bandmembers: Over the Rhine's chief songwriters (bassist/pianist Linford Detweiler and classically trained lead singer Karin Bergquist) were married in October. In December, guitarist Ric Hordinski left to devote more time to his own band, Monk, and drummer Brian Kelley followed (before he changed his mind in 1997). The group issued Besides, a fan-club-only compilation of rarities, in early 1997; the official album Amateur Shortwave Radio appeared in 1999. The band's sixth studio effort Films for Radio appeared in early 2001. Two years later, Detweiler and Bergquist returned with Ohio. This double-disc set, which marked Over the Rhine's tenth album overall, reflected the band's Midwestern connections. Following a tumultuous year of heavy touring, the band returned to the studio (Bergquist and Detweiler's living room, to be precise) and recorded their next album, Drunkard's Prayer, which came out in 2005. They released a career retrospective, Discount Fireworks, two years later.
Jacksie I've Been Slipping How Does It Feel How Does It Feel (Reprise) Sister Il Est Dans Mon Poche Flanders Fields Little Genius (Instrumental) Lullabye Circle Of Quiet I Painted My Name Rhapsodie Grey Monologue
Happy With Myself Within Without Should Conjectures Of A Guilty Bystander Melancholy Room Sleep Baby Jane Daddy Untwisted Birds June My Love Is A Fever Falling (Death Of A Tree)
Latter Days All I Need Is Everything Etcetera Whatever I Will Not Eat The Darkness (Instrumental) Faithfully Dangerous The Seahorse Everyman's Daughter A Gospel Number Poughkeepsie Willoughby (Instrumental) Jack's Valentine Happy To Be So Go Down Easy
The First Noel (Instrumental) Silent Night It Came Upon A Midnight Clear Greensleeves (Instrumental) O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Instrumental) Coal Train (Instrumental) Thank You My Angel Mary's Waltz Up North Here Where The Stars... 1945 (Instrumental) Silent Night (duet) O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Instrumental) Amelia's Last A Little Lower Than The Angels (Instrumental)
The People Here Are Not Shy Hej (I Do) My Love Is A Fever (live) Within Without (rough mix) (An American DeeJay) Last Night Murder Dead Weight Bothered All I Need Is Everything (chamber music mix) Lucy Miles (Polish DeeJay) If I'm Drowning (Live)
The World Can Wait If Nothing Else Give Me Strength Fairpoint Diary I Radio Heaven Little Blue River/In The Garden Goodbye (This Is Not Goodbye) Whatever You Say The Body Is A Stairway Of Skin Moth When I Go
CD1 B.P.D. What I'll Remember Most Show Me Jesus In New Orleans Ohio Suitcase Anything At All Professional Daydreamer Lifelong Fling Changes Come
CD2 Long Lost Brother She Nobody Number One Cruel and Pretty Remind Us How Long Have You Been Stoned When You Say Love Fool Hometown Boy Bothered Idea #21 (Not Too Late)
I Want You To Be My Love Born Drunkard's Prayer Bluer Spark Hush Now (Stella's Tarantella) Lookin' Forward Little Did I Know Who Will Guard The Door Firefly My Funny Valentine
Meet Me At The Edge Of The World - 2013-09-03 -
Angel Band Anyway Baby, It's Cold Outside Blackbird Everybody Wants to Feel Like You Failed Christian Fever Green-Clouded Swallowtail (Version 1.0) Helpless (Live) I Let It Go It's Never Quite What It Seems I Will Remember Last Night On Earth Again Moondance Motherless child Orphan Girl Paper moon Ruby Tuesday Son of a preacher man Spinning The Poopsmith Song Toledo
Till We Have Faces
Eyes Wide Open Eyes wide open To the great train robbery of my soul Impending blindness Of the kind that's beyond my control Eyes wide open To the secret forest beyond those tear-filled trees Heart-rending blindness Won't testify that I'm on my knees Maybe I'm a little young to care Maybe I'm a little old to cry I don't know Maybe I'm a little weak to dance Maybe I'm a little strong to die I don't know Concentrating Love and I'm hating myself again Impersonating The smallest shadow of my original self again Does anybody really want to grasp My hand and lift me to my feet? Does anybody really want to be the breeze That frightens off this heat?
Someday And if you call my name Make it clear And if you call my name Make it plain And if you call my name Make it evident I wouldn't miss it for the world And if you need my attention Be bizarre Feel free to ignore convention (it's alright) And if it's a matter of permission You can do me harm I wouldn't miss it for the world Someday I'll pray Don't leave me alone And if you call my name Call it again My mind's been known to wonder Call it again You know I've been waiting For this since God knows when I wouldn't miss it for the world
Like A Radio Confused Ever since I spied you in the rooms of my mind Now I can't deny you Bleeding and bruised Like a vagabond in rags I've walked the streets to you door To find just what's in store I see you You and many others in your clean well-lighted place Where I would find disgrace But I do Know I'd find contentment just to be your furniture I need nothing more In the thick of the night take me out of the cold Let me sing inside Like a radio In the thick of the night before we grow too old Let me sing inside Like a radio Shivering and cold this night's conducive to a Flight into my soul but I stand here Though my heart grows bold Once on the inside I can quietly persist And hold my tears And so still I wait Though I grow much weaker I will not faint I'll stay true Believe me when I say I'd climb to heaven Crawl beneath the lowest hell To stay near you
Iron Curtain Yesterday I saw The iron curtain Around your heart Making me cry Making me wonder Bringing me down But making me love you Making me sad Making me sorry and A little afraid But making me love you Yeah Yesterday I saw The iron curtain Around your heart Cast Me Away Cast me away From yesterday's things In deed and in my memory Sweeten the taste Of the past And borrow just a little more time for me And Can It Be This night is so big This night has stars falling into my hands And if I listen real close I can hear some distant train crossing (it makes me wonder) Cast your shadow Cast your shadow across my heart Investigate me I hope I've been yours right from the start (it makes me wonder) And can it ever be I would know Experience The casualty of your love All I can ever see Is the need Climb out of here Find the way to some quiet place Where you are This night is so dark This night has silence and very little fear Tell me this welcome peace Isn't dancing with the ghost of future tears (it makes me wonder) See how the road melts Hear how the flowers fall Feel how the smoke rolls In front of my eyes See how the trees bend Hear how the heavens hush Feel how the earth fades In front of my eyes And can it ever be? No Please no Gentle Wounds Entertaining visions of a Lucid nature Emotional precision It's our best behavior Rattling the streetcars on Forgotten streets Making a connection with The bittersweet Crawling into your mind For some radiant reunion Tapping out the messages That signify your Folded wings The ground around receding Feel love's stinging sword Cut deep and catch The joy that's bleeding out of Gentle wounds Feel the pang of hunger Feel the new life awaken Restoring everything That once was taken... Symbolizing agony that Made the women weep Feel love's stinging sword Slice deep and catch The joy that's bleeding out of Gentle wounds Bruised and beaten torn apart The price that's paid for love divine Can't spare your life don't spare Your heart Just feel the joy... If I'm Drowning If I'm drowning within your open sea Save me, save me If I'm lost within your strange anatomy Talk to me, talk to me If I'm on fire and I'm melting in the heat Touch me, touch me If I'm tangled in your raw philosophy Then you better walk with me Walk with me I'm just walking across your heart In spite of the weather (won't you walk with me?) If I'm dancing through your passages and fall Catch me, catch me If I'm screaming in your sky and tell you all Hear me, hear me If I'm feigning coherence and calmness Laugh with me, laugh with me If I tremble at your close proximity Then you better believe me Believe me I can see you now I can hear you now I can feel you now I can taste you now In spite of the weather Yeah Sea and Sky I feel like a castaway but I'm not afraid You and me and a couple dusty volumes I wanna be your messiah but there's no way I feel the tide roll in around us You be the sea and i'll be the sky I want you with me now don't wonder why You be the sea and i'll be the sky Endeavour with me now don't wonder why This love's like a labyrinth but I'm not afraid You and me and a strong sense of forever Like the old Swiss Family Robinson Let's drift away If we go down at least we'll drown together (i can't forget you) It's a little like this, it's a little like being afraid It's a little like yesterday, though I don't mean To invade Clouds rolled in front of your Face your tears became the rain I heard Wonderful thunder as you murmured as You murmured my name (take me far away, teach my soul to feel That way You take me far away It's wonderful, wonderful) Roll away, roll away with me You be the sea And i'll be the sky Fly Dance Fly dance The liberation of love with my two hands Fly dance The cultivation of love with my two hands Fly dance The sensation of love with my two hands Fly dance The revelation of love with my two hands I can tell you what I have to I can tell you what I need to But it won't really stick in your head I'd really rather liberate Yes I'd really rather free you I wanna rip you from your spider's web Spider's in your head Creepin' ‘round your bed The spider's lookin' now what does he see Sly and ceremonial You know he's a phony old Tycoon with a penitentiary Paul and Virginia Spill-tainted pages of poetic prophecy Tickle my interest and taunt at my fantasy Gentle new lover, favorite friend With hidden desire that bothers my conscience Again Like Paul and Virginia! Sit close to me on the swing Like Paul and Virginia! Sit close to me and I'll sing (whisper my name, kiss me again) I'll sing for you With you Oh, you Cobalt blue vessels, clean same sex rabbits Old movie romance and a healthy new habit Moving in passion, resting in reason With a strong tender poet who touches each region within Illuminations that shine on the river Subliminal glances provoking a shiver Palms full of mystery, fingers of magic Greetings so glorious, partings so tragic Like Paul and Virginia! Ubiquitous Hands It's a first impression Silence is deceiving But just around the corner I can hear I can hear you breathe It's a calm confession A curious obsession No matter when I listen I can hear I can hear you breathe I can hear you breathing If you stay and never go away I'll repeat the same mistakes I've made I'll believe most anything you say and Watch my heart of stone melt into clay First I'm disbelieving Then I'm almost drowning Swimming in the ocean with the sound I can hear you breathe Walking in the heavens Falling on the ground Rolling on the earth You're all around I can hear you breathe I can hear you breathing In your hands In your hands (fall into your Ubiquitous hands) It's an indication I'm your destination I hope it's not just My imagination The Genius of Water Meet me in the morning At the bus stop We'll ride into the town Down to the square To see the angel See the angel in the fountain Meet me in the morning Meet me after daybreak Tie your hair back We'll drift into the crowd Get lost among the loud And they'll be singing They'll be singing in our daydream When we're tired we'll leave them All behind and walk away I love you a lot Meet me in the courtyard Where the saints pray Musing in our stare Still painfully aware That there are others Shoulds and woulds with names and faces Close your eyes and open up your mind And hear me say See the angel She's dancing in the water Hear the angel She's laughing in the water Something in the way that you Said you really felt that we could be Good friends forever Together for a long time
Patience
Jacksie Her hair Her face Her figure in your window Her hands unlace your innermost As you retrace your steps of her familiar Her ghost appears with raven eyes To dance To spin To spill into your memory To glare To grin To chill you now But through the din of silence all around you She stirs within she still knows how They laid her in the ground She still comes around A love that never dies takes you by surprise Hello Hello Now she's the voice inside you Hello again so soft and low Do you suppose your disbelief could blind you She's still alive for all you know Heaven couldn't hold her She'll be by your side when it's your turn All she's seen without you To you she'll confide when it's your turn. I've Been Slipping I've been slipping down in the grass Counting the steps to your back door I've been praying you'd see me pass Knowing somehow you've seen me before I've been sighing more than I should Spilling my glass there's ice on the floor But I've been busy gathering wood Hoping our fire will burn all the more I've been stealing hundreds of bells Ringing my way along your shore And I've been smiling all to myself Savouring signs of what's in store I've been climbing branches and vines Gathering leaves for long festoons And I've been rhyming myriad lines Full of your face and the gleam of the moon How Does It Feel (To Be On My Mind) Now if I could disclose secrets heaven only knows If I'd lose all my ground and see your smile decompose So I rest on the fact that I love you I suppose And I hang like the colors on a blind man's clothes How does it feel How does it feel How does it feel To be on my mind I'm the pale moon rising I'm the ghost in flight That steals through the spaces of your inward night I'm the moth that's resting on your window sill With a lust for light and an iron will Pray tell talk to me can you feel me in the fingers Of the wind in your hair as if I'm standing there Very well like a child running to some mademoiselle In his hand to his ear is pressed a great seashell I'm the moon-eyed fish swimming up to you You're the tall Titanic but you'll be subdued There's someone mapping out a rendezvous It seems to me. You're in my shadow here in my room Love's such a strange word here in my room I'm standing barefoot here in my room Sad as a gypsy here in my room Sister You say he feels it His face reveals it My sweet trepidation An eagerness of my own A shiver ships through my bones Can you see cobblestone roads Running through his stare. He's so clandestine He's such a vision So tell me sister He sits here in this small dive There's something behind those eyes Did you perceive the wilderness Resting there... So did I Laughing he stalls me Crazy he calls me He thinks me artless For not stocking berry wines From certain Australian vines Have mercy sister He's travelled ‘round the world He's like a shadow There by the window But no man's an island No man's an artesian well He loves the cathedral bell It sings about him When he goes home at night... So do I Il Est Dans Mon Poche Here is my fortune Here is my fame Here is my future It's in my pocket And if my fortune Weren't only lint and small change Wishing in one hand Bird in another See which one will take me farthest from here Here is my hopelessness Though I'm not helpless I need a window That I can climb through Just one small opening A little lantern to light my way Discovering my hands Catch at the altar I fall on my face as the words hit my ear Here is my fortune Here is my fame Here is my future It's in my pocket Il est dans mon poche Flanders Fields In flanders fields far away I lost my love one day Lullabye The night has a thousand eyes and ears The rain tends to wash away my fears It's not been long but it seems like years And now you're here Brush away my tears Brush away my tears The lullaby in your quiet eyes Instinctive as the night And just as warm Brush away my tears Brush away Circle of Quiet Maybe you can tell my why I'm prone to wander I'm like a gypsy to the bone Every time I hear the rain amid the thunder I want to run outside and shed my clothes But I want to stay with you Long enough to love you right And I want to say to you I love the patience in your eyes Here I am standing in a circle of quiet Where a truce is tacitly observed Standing in a circle of quiet Waiting for the world to turn Waiting for the world to turn Waiting for the world to turn And a hundred days and night could find me scattered All around the world without a name But you're more than just a feather in my hat More than just a fetter on my frame When I look up in the sky at night I want to go out and chase the stars But like the catcher in the rye I want to stay where you are There is no shadow of turning with thee There is no shadow of turning I Painted My Name I painted my name on a bridge today In black and white and red and grey You know it's really not far away From the banks of the river Where the president used to play I put it high above the rocks below It's sheltered from the wind and rain and snow You know the bridge where we used to go Our childish trolls and freaks and giant demons Sunday i hope you might come by On a big white boat with the sails up high Sunday i hope that you'll be true To all it is i see in you Yet strange enough I'm still in love with you And so it seems there's work to do I've got my bow and arrow and Barlow blade Come dawn I want to ride in your brigade Sunday I hope you might come by On a big white horse in the big white sky Sunday I know we'll reconcile Down by the river we'll dream awhile Down by the river we'll sing awhile Down by the river we'll play awhile Down by the river we'll cry awhile Down by the river we'll dance awhile Down by the river just you and i Rhapsodie And I couldn't love you Any more Than I do right now And The Furies that I feared were Eumenides to lead me here Here i linger And the cadences we hear May grow different in coming years Still I'll tell you That I couldn't love you Any more Than I do right now And if you should ever leave Then I would love you for what you need I could still tell you That I couldn't love you Any more Than I do right now Grey Monologue This is as close as you and I ever get to the ocean My third story bedroom window Overlooking this rain-drenched night You breathe, and I recall the power of trains Let's let the night sleep in Let's pray that it engulfs us You know I can't even begin to see your eyes But if I'm ever really drunk It will be from drinking every drop of your soul And running till I sweat your spirit
Eve
Happy with myself I'm happy with myself I'm happy with myself And I don't have what it takes to please you I've been trying to write you a letter I've been trying for two or three years Maybe I could just say it better Practice some in front of a mirror here oh I've been trying to build you a heaven Crowns of thorns in mason jars Angels that dance on pins and needles Maybe I've tried a little too hard oh Within without Is it because I cannot see you That you feel so free to steal My excess baggage full of darkness and despair While I fumble with my locks You're content to stand and knock Yet I know your knack for thievery is rare Do you know they call it arson Setting fires without permission In my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too Though your lack of inhibition Captures my imagination I end up a wiser person thanks to you It's coming to fruition The sympathetic vibration Your train is at my station Within without Then there is your flare for murder There's a dagger in the border Of your cloak and I suspect a captain's gun As you put to death suspicions Kindly kill my fears as well Exorcise and slay the demons one by one Though I'm usually pacifistic You are mercifully sadistic And I didn't know that murder could be good But the roses came crimson Springing from the prison Of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood It's coming to fruition The sympathetic vibration Your train is at my station Within without It's calming my suspicion With soothing intuition Your train is at my station Within without Within without Within without Within without Should Bone dry Should I never dance Like Salome danced Bathing in rain And moonlight and flame Should I never sweat Surreal shadows Rushing through my veins Good red blood run red Bone dry Should I never speak The wisdom of hands Should I never use The fingers that find Should I never read The words on my feet Leading me to you The blind lead the blind Bone dry Always Doesn't mean anything Always No Should I never feel The healing you bring Take a look at me I'm breathing, I'm breathing Should I trace a line From lips to heartbeat Shoulder and across To shoulder again Bone dry Always Doesn't mean anything Always No Always Doesn't mean forever Always No Bone dry Conjectures of a guilty bystander You are a gardener You cultivate my soul You water thirsty vines That snake along my spine In case I forget to shiver You are a carpenter You build the scaffolding Replace the windowpane I see the sky again As if I've been delivered You are a fisherman My weather lets you know When and when not to wait Your hook's inside the bait I'm wary but I swallow You are a messenger You bring me all the news The kind that never lies It's written in my eyes You beckon and it follows I get to be guilty You are a singer too Carry me like a tune I'm like a newborn child I'm wrapped up for a while You're swaying like a hobo You are a circus clown I've never laughed before Beneath your canopy Oh say a prayer for me I want this in a photo So be a photographer I'm dancing naked now Across the maple floor Above the lion's roar Your pictures will protect me You must be a scientist by now With rumpled midnight hair You've studied every pore And every follicle Of my bewildered body I get to be guilty Yours is a different light I like my face that way The canvas of my skin Serene and strange but true Melancholy room Someone's moving ‘round inside of me Someone's setting up shop where I can't see But I'm fine But I'm fine In this melancholy room Someone opened up my mouth to speak Someone pulled the words back into me But I'm fine (lie) But I'm fine (lie) In this melancholy room Scream like a silent movie Call off the curious fingers Feeling my heart Spring on an arctic island Pushing against my ribcage Takes me apart Smiles on my Friday face Call it amazing grace Are you leaving so soon I'm mad as a march hare in June In this melancholy room Oh you can you Can you see how I've fallen In the fog Cannot see very far Cannot see the fallen In the fog Can you see what I see Can you see Do you wanna You fallen Can I call you god or messiah You know you must... Your body down Sleep baby jane Sleep baby jane Sleep baby jane Suicide suicide Katie's talking suicide Homicide homicide Mama killed my man Turpentine turpentine Potion for my valentine Take a ride and take it In a long black hearse Sleep baby jane Sleep baby jane Vaseline vaseline Ruby's selling vaseline Kerosene kerosene Everyone's a fetus Chamomile chamomile Someone spiked the chamomile Shake it mama shake it It was my idea first Sleep baby Jane Sleep baby Jane Don't scream Sleep baby Jane My baby If you think I'm Jane Let me kiss you If you think I'm Jane If you think I'm Jane Let me call you an angel Daddy untwisted Are you my daddy Are you I don't wanna cut you up Drink you from a paper cup I don't wanna spit you out Or kick you in the shin I don't wanna knock you down Be your mother be a clown I don't wanna talk about The shit you're really in I don't wanna take a bow No one's clapping anyhow I don't wanna sneak around And pray you'll understand I don't wanna call your bluff Enough's enough I don't wanna see you Chained up Are you my daddy Are you I don't wanna ruffle you Cut the deck and shuffle you Don't wanna come to fisticuffs Or stick you with a pin I don't wanna argue Hurt your pride or make you blue Your tongue is forked and clearly There are scales upon your skin I don't wanna help ice crack Give you a surprise attack I don't wanna cut you slack And watch it go to hell I don't wanna tell you lies Like Presbyterians or spies I don't wanna see you chained up Are you my daddy Are you Don't you run away Leave me like a rainy day I don't wanna make you stay Or stand up high above you Don't want you to see me cry I'm just trying not to lie I don't wanna see you chained up Birds Fall on me Fall on me Birds of a feather and a featherless cap Poor lovers breed songs in a two-room flat Moist hands fold to pray for a painless truth We dance on the tracks of a train called youth Truth's on the table like a toxic spill And we wrestle in the sheets with our own freewill If we never shake hands with a phantom called fame I'll still have your picture in a picture frame If you should fall Fall on me Forty-acre farm we can call our own With a chocolate lab and no telephone The full moon's leering in a lover's swoon And the apple tree's swaying to a windy tune (save me I'm falling for you) But we won't get to heaven if we just sit still If we don't cry murder maybe no one will We're riding tandem down sycamore hill If we hit the brakes we're gonna take a big spill If you should fall Fall on me And if my hand were taken hold of I'd slip away with you love Slip away with you love June June the clouds in your eyes remind me of the way I feel June the river will rise on all the secrets I conceal June I'm following you somehow I've fallen far behind June lately I feel I'd rather not believe love's blind Crazy it used to be so clear What's hazy used to be so clear Am I lazy should I swallow all this fear Crazy it used to be so June I'm feeling so good I'd love to die here just like this June I'm feeling so strange screams are tangled up with bliss June when I'm afraid I find a thousand ways to laugh June when I'm alone I forget you anyway I can June help me help me I'm running out of things to say June tell me tell me will he love me anyway God look over there there's pigeons nesting on your saints God all I can say is forgive us rather forgive me My love is a fever My love is a fever My love is a fable My love is jazz licks Improvised by toddlers Bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme And firelight My love is a metamorphosis Reason cold logic Intuitively speaking My love is syncopated Spoon-fed ignorant Well-read My love is singular My love is commonplace As a gravedigger's own birthplace My love is a medicine Feeds the sick heals the poor Turns up the volume on the blind My word it's a trip Like a migraine On a moving train It parachutes aeroplanes Watch it fly Eyes soar hands clap Ears ring it's a sand trap Hair raising amazing Grey city transformations As lips sink stomachs ache Monkeys shine fire flies Foxes trot hobs knob Porches swing brains storm Hearts attack and air supplies Heads light tails spin Steeples chase you along your chin Rock slides Out of the woods now A virgin in buckskin Moccasins tall thin She plays your mandolin So maudlin you begin to spin Out of the woods now Falling (death of a tree) I'll awake to find your love Falling like leaves to the ground I'll awake to find your love Falling like leaves You will look to find me down Upon my knees without a sound You will look to find me down Upon my knees Then we can fling wide the gates Let go the last of our hate Then we can sigh Like the cool clear wind up high Through the sky above Then we can say we're in love Then we can rest mortal eyes Laugh as we run out of temporal breath Then we can move we can sing We can tremble like birds Through the sky above Then we can say we're in love
Good Dog Bad Dog
Latter days What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be. Lord knows we've learned the hard way all about healthy apathy. And I use these words pretty loosely. There's so much more to life than words. There is a me you would not recognize, dear. Call it the shadow of myself. And if the music starts before I get there dance without me. You dance so gracefully. I really think I'll be o.k. They've taken their toll these latter days. Nothin' like sleepin' on a bed of nails Nothin' much here but our broken dreams. Ah, but baby if all else fails Nothing' is ever quite what it seems. And I'm dyin' inside to leave you with more than just cliches. There is a me you would not recognize, dear. Call it the shadow of myself. And if the music starts before I get there dance without me. You dance so gracefully. I really think i'll be o.k. They've taken their toll these latter days. But tell them it's real. Tell them it's really real. I just don't have much left to say. They've taken their toll these latter days. They've taken their toll these latter days. All I need is everything Slow down. Hold still. It's not as if it's a matter of will. Someone's circling. Someone's moving A little lower than the angels. And it's got nothing to do with me. The wind blows through the trees, But if I look for it, it won't come. I tense up. My mind goes numb. There's nothing harder than learning how to receive. Calm down. Be still. We've got plenty of time to kill. No hand writing on the wall: Just the voice that's in us all. And you're whispering to me, Time to get up off my hands and knees, ‘cause if I beg for it, it won't come. I find nothing but table crumbs. My hands are empty. God I've been naive. All I need is everything. Inside, outside, feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. Slow down. Hold still. It's not as if it's a matter of will. Someone's circling. Someone's moving A little lower than the angels. This voice calling me to you: It's just barely coming through. Still, I clearly hear my name. I've been fingering the flame Like tomorrow's martyr. It gets harder to believe. All I need is everything. Inside, outside, feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. So from now till kingdom come, Taste the words on the tip of my tongue. ‘cause we can't run truth out of town, Only force it underground. The roots grow deeper In ways we can't conceive. All I need is everything. Inside, outside feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. All I need is all I need. Etcetera whatever Don't speak. Words come out your eyes. You're wet with this nightmare. Like thorns you hold these secrets to your breast, Your slender fingers closing into fists. Trace your bruise Like a guilty streak. Hold the pain. You're a connoisseur. You think you have no other gift to give, But we have so much left to live. We don't need a lot of money. We'll be sleeping on the beach, Keeping oceans within reach. (whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.) I will stumble there with you And you'll be laughing close with me, Trying not to make a scene Etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean Is we're gonna be alright. Yeah, we're gonna be alright. You can close your eyes tonight, ‘cause we're gonna be alright. So come on now, I can almost see That place On a distant shore. And courage is a weapon we must use To find some life you can't refuse. We don't need a lot of money. We'll be sleeping on the beach, Keeping oceans within reach. (whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.) I will stumble there with you And you'll be laughing close with me, Trying not to make a scene Etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean Is we're gonna be alright. Yeah, we're gonna be alright. You can close your eyes tonight, ‘cause we're gonna be alright. All that I can see is your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Faithfully dangerous Your paint dries, the canvas smiles, With two eyes you lift yourself up. Stroke your skin, there are teeth marks to be sure. Maybe we're best close to the ground. Maybe angels drag us down. I wonder which part of this will leave the scar. Dip your hands in colours While the young night flutters in on you and Finger paint me pictures of all you see. No matter what they say, you'll always be Faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely, So beautiful to me. I'm not too blind to see. Red is blood. Black is sky. White's the dove that longs to fly. You set it free and it beats its wings in me. It leaves us at a loss for words. Is that me now in your arms? We cradle together and fall down on our knees. Let the whole world drift downstream. We'll always be different. Swim the silent slipstream inside of me. No matter what they say, you'll always be Faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely, So beautiful to me. I'm not too blind to see. Red is blood. Black is sky. White's the dove that longs to fly. You set it free and it beats its wings in me. It leaves us at a loss for words. Is that me now in your arms? We cradle together and fall down on our knees. The heart that beats is yours inside me. Red is love. Black is night. I'm drunk with angels taking flight. The heart that beats is yours inside me. The heart that beats is yours inside me. The heart that beats is yours. The seahorse Welcome to the goldrush. Wait till after dark. Open up the ceiling, we'll be kneeling, We'll be breathing on a spark. Flying kites at midnight, Such a dizzy height. Up above the small town, Pulling moonlight down and wearing it skin tight. You can always tell me Anything at all. Think of all the times You've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah. Suddenly i'm weightless. Gravity is mine. I see it with my eyes closed, What my heart knows: we must leave this world behind. ‘cause when I wake from dreaming, It's then i'm most alive. Eye lids barely open, no words spoken, Ah, but you were by my side. You can always tell me Anything at all. Think of all the times You've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, what you're missing. Don't you wanna see what you're missing? I can always tell you Anything at all. Break the alabaster, Hearts beat faster, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can always tell me Anything at all. Think of all the times You've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, what you're missing. Don't you wanna see what you're missing? Everyman's daughter Look inside for the elusive goldmine. Broken glass and a little cheap wine Is all that I can find. And bundles of contradictions, My heart full of loose connections, Hands across my eyes. I cannot disguise i'm everyman's daughter. It's always the same old question. Who am I and whose invention? This armour's full of dust. There's so much of us in each other. If I hate you you're my best reminder Of all I wish I was. I hate you just because i'm everyman's daughter. Who do you think that I am? It don't matter long as we can understand. I am hurting someone. I am hurting someone just like, just like you. Insulting the wounds of others, My sisters, my brothers, My vision's way too good. I carry the inward aching. Like you, I too am naked. I don't look that good, But this is flesh and blood. I'm everyman's daughter. Look at all the blood we've spilt. I can't deal with all this fundamental guilt. I am hurting someone. I am hurting someone just like, just like you. I am. I am. I am everyman's daughter. A gospel number Will a man called jesus ever take me in his arms? Will a man called jesus ever take me in his arms? I lack grace and I lack charm. This is cause for no alarm, If a man called jesus ever takes me in his arms. Will a man called jesus ever touch me on my face? Will a man called jesus ever touch me on my face? The tears I cried would be erased. This to me would be amazing grace, If a man called jesus ever touched me on my face. Waiting, waiting, waiting, I'm still waiting. If a man called jesus ever touched me on my face. Will a man called jesus ever look me in the eyes? Will a man called jesus ever look me in the eyes? Burn away my alibis, Separate the truth from your vicious lies, If a man called jesus ever looked me in the eyes. Waiting, waiting, waiting, I'm still waiting. If a man called jesus ever looks me in the eyes. Mercy, mercy, mercy, I'll cry mercy If a man called jesus ever looks me in the eyes. Poughkeepsie I thought i'd go up poughkeepsie, Look out o'er the hudson, And i'd throw my body down on the river. And i'd know no more sorrow, I'd fly like the sparrow And i'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight. I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight. I'd take to the sky with all my might. No more drowning in my sorrow, No more drowning in my fright, I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight. There are those who know sorrow And those who must borrow And those whose lot in life is sweet. Well i'm drunk on self-pity, Scorned all that's been given me, I would drink from a bottle labelled sure defeat. I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight. I'd take to the sky with all my might. No more drowning in my sorrow, No more drowning in my fright, I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight. Then the skies, they fell open And my eyes were opened To a world of hope falling at my feet. Now i've no more or less Than anyone else has, What I have is a gift of life I can't repeat. So I go up poughkeepsie, Look out o'er the hudson And I cast my worries to the sky. Now I still know sorrow, But I can fly like the sparrow ‘cause I ride on the backs of the angels tonight. I ride on the backs of the angels tonight. I take to the sky with all their might. No more drowning in my sorrow, No more drowning in my fright, I'll just ride on the backs of the angels each night. Jack's valentine Help me. Spread my table. I've been tryin' but i'm just not able. There's so much left inside, So very much i've been tryin' to hide. Life gets pretty heavy and I wish it was light, But after all I love the night. And there's that word again. I still hear it every now and again. I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget Everything I don't know about love yet. I need you ‘cause you help me forget, Yeah, you help me forget. I drink you ‘cause you help me to see It's mostly myself that's killin' me. I think I have to, to help me forget Everything I don't know about love yet. Someone said these were the best days, Best days of our life. I suppose there could be worse ways, Worse ways to learn to cry. And if these should be the last days, The last days for you and i, I suppose this is the best way, Best way to say goodbye. I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget Everything I don't know about love yet. I need you ‘cause you help me forget, Yeah, you help me forget. I drink you ‘cause you help me to see It's mostly myself that's killin' me. I think I have to, to help me forget Everything I don't know about love yet. It snows in here. It snows forever, But there's no christmas underneath this weather. When it blows here and gets real cold, I wanna trip myself and fall upon your fabulous sword And move here by the stained-glass window. Forget about the inside ghetto. Down here on the hardwood floor, The lines on the ceiling start to swim once more Like a cheap renoir, a fake van gogh, A pop monet, a blue degas. I breathe you. I need you. Ah. Happy to be so Anything I say will be held against me, So I won't say much or i'll spill it all. By the light of day it's an elusive feeling, But every single night that's immaterial. I know a love that will not let me go. My heart is bound and happy to be so. It's so happy to be so, Happy to be so, Happy, happy, happy to be so. If I try to pray, it's like a game of red rover. I take a real good run at it, but I can't break through. Don't matter anyway. I'm so red-handed. The game is over. I'll just tell the truth. I know a love that will not let me go. My heart is bound and gagged and on death row. It's so happy to be so, Happy to be so, Happy, happy, happy to be so. Ooh. Go down easy Go down easy babe. Go down slow. Take all the time you need. We've no place else to go. Gonna put on my favourite dress. Put my hair up too. Take me north, south, east or west. I guess i'll leave it up to you. You threw a noose around my shadow. Got me into all this mess. I would have dove in head first anyway For less, for a whole lot less. Go down easy babe. Go down slow. Take all the time you need. We've no place else to go. Say farewell to the confines of my own back yard. Weeds growin' ‘round the flowers. Sometimes the only way to break the curse Is to leave it all behind. Find the slow curve of a back road, One hand on the wheel. Drive till I remember how it feels. So this is how it feels. Oh. Go down easy babe. Go down slow. If there's anything better than this I'd like to know.
The Darkest Night of the Year
Silent Night (Words & music by Mohr - Gruber) Sleep Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright 'Round young virgin mother and child Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Silent night, holy night Darkness flies, all is light; Can you hear the angels sing "Alleluia! to our King Christ the Savior is born Christ the Savior is born Sleep in heavenly Sleep in heavenly Sleep in heavenly Sleep in heavenly peace Oh silent night, holy night
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Words: Edmund H. Sears) It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth, To touch their harps of gold; “Peace on the earth, good will to men, From Heaven's all gracious King.” The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing. Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world; Above its sad and lowly plains, They bend on hovering wing, And ever over its Babel sounds The blessed angels sing.
Thank you my angel Thank you my angel For blessing me With these words and for giving me What I was hungry for Taste of dirt From the floor of heaven Thank you my angel For cutting off my hands Forbidding me To trace the lines of this miracle Across the great divide For making love a foreign language Thank you my angel For fluttering Out my window for telling me All those lies about myself It was your way of bandaging the bleeding Thank you my angel For the clutter of my life For dragging me To the edge of the wilderness To lie here by myself Just outside the land of promise Mary's waltz There was a blind girl with braids and a black dress Lived next to me i could tell you the address I saw her climb out her window one midnight In to the oak tree scared sacred with moonlight See Mary dance with the light on her shoulders She has a secret, like a lover discovers her Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool Expensive perfume on her feet Blind Mary taught me how eyes can make pictures I showed her mine and then she showed me all hers You have to close them she whispered a warning Be sure to open them before it's morning See how we dance with the light on our shoulders We have a secret like lovers discovering Guardian angels with limbs white as lambs wool Expensive perfume on our feet Mary fell ill on a night in December And how they tried then to cool down her fever But she lay so still like a child in a manger While I closed my eyes tight and prayed for a savior Let Mary dance with the light on her shoulders Tell her a secret and let her discover her Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool Expensive perfume on his feet
Silent Night Duet
(Words & music by Mohr - Gruber) Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright 'Round young virgin mother and child Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Silent night! Holiest night! Wondrous Star, lend thy light! With the angels let us sing "Alleluia! to our King! Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!" Silent night, holy night Silent night, holy night Amelia's last These are the (whose are the?) These are the raw materials You and me These are the (whose are the?) These are the angels' inferiors Who Someone breathed this breath in us “Oh Amelia, we've so far to go Oh Amelia" These are the (whose are the?) These are the ordinary clothes You and me Around extraordinary flesh and pulsing madness deep and close Who Someone breathed this breath in us “Oh Amelia maybe we're not that far Oh Amelia is this who we really are My Amelia"
Besides
Hej (I Do) Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej... Hej, you wanna sit right here? Here beside me? Do you like that? I do. Hej, you wanna say my name? Say it slowly. Do you like that? I do. Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last chance. Hej, you wanna smile at me? I'll adore you. Do you like that? I do. Hej, you wanna read my poetry by the sea boy? Do you baby? I do. I do. Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last chance. Hej, you wanna hear a secret? C'mere i'll whisper. Do you like that? I do. Hej, you wanna hear it again? Maybe one day we'll be sayin' I do. Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand? Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today? Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last dance. My Love Is A Fever My love is a fever My love is a fable My love is jazz licks Improvised by toddlers Bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme And firelight My love is a metamorphosis Reason cold logic Intuitively speaking My love is syncopated Spoon-fed ignorant Well-read My love is singular My love is commonplace As a gravedigger's own birthplace My love is a medicine Feeds the sick heals the poor Turns up the volume on the blind My word it's a trip Like a migraine On a moving train It parachutes aeroplanes Watch it fly Eyes soar hands clap Ears ring it's a sand trap Hair raising amazing Grey city transformations As lips sink stomachs ache Monkeys shine fire flies Foxes trot hobs knob Porches swing brains storm Hearts attack and air supplies Heads light tails spin Steeples chase you along your chin Rock slides Out of the woods now A virgin in buckskin Moccasins tall thin She plays your mandolin So maudlin you begin to spin Out of the woods now Within Without Is it because I cannot see you That you feel so free to steal My excess baggage full of darkness and despair While I fumble with my locks You're content to stand and knock Yet I know your knack for thievery is rare Do you know they call it arson Setting fires without permission In my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too Though your lack of inhibition Captures my imagination I end up a wiser person thanks to you It's coming to fruition The sympathetic vibration Your train is at my station Within without Then there is your flare for murder There's a dagger in the border Of your cloak and I suspect a captain's gun As you put to death suspicions Kindly kill my fears as well Exorcise and slay the demons one by one Though I'm usually pacifistic You are mercifully sadistic And I didn't know that murder could be good But the roses came crimson Springing from the prison Of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood It's coming to fruition The sympathetic vibration Your train is at my station Within without It's calming my suspicion With soothing intuition Your train is at my station Within without Within without Within without Within without Last Night Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair, Discarded all your beauty in despair, Declared yourself a concubine, Filled the bathtub full of wine, Bathed and drank the night away, And said there'd never come a day When politics would ever mean a thing. Last night I dreamt you came and crowned me king. Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair And laid it at the bottom of my stair And waited by the garden gate For one more rendezvous with fate, Kept a pistol in your dress (the iron loved your sweet caress As trigger-finger twitched at your command.) Last night I dreamt we fell upon the sand. Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair And sold your stockings at the county fair And how the clowns did dance and sway (the sheep and goats all had their say) And there I'm sitting at the side Of the one who loved to ride The ferris wheel in nothing but bare skin. Last night I dreamt you knocked. I let you in. Murder Murder's just a word For lack of something else to say. Murder's just a game For lack of something else to play. Put your finger, Put your fingers on it. Something's got me, Something's got my heart by the throat. Blood is just a shade On the palette of your blushing body. Blood is not afraid Of all of this internal bleeding. Put your finger, Put your fingers on it. Something's got me, Something's got my heart by the throat. Love is just a flame Burning us with indiscretion. Love, is not to blame If murder is a man's invention. Love is not a man's invention. Inhale, exhale, dovetail, set sail, Nightingale, blackmail, go to jail, make bail, Prevail, unveil every detail, Read my braille, put your fingers on it. Dead Weight Sometimes I like to stick my fingers Where they don't belong. Sometimes I like to fake a fever And just stay home. ‘Cause we smile in here We don't get too close to sadness. ‘Cause what's holding us Is just about to break. Ain't it funny how life can drag behind us Just like so much dead weight. Sometimes what feels like pretty good music Is just the same old song. Sometimes we deal with bygone bruises And find it's been too long. But we laugh in here We don't get too close to sadness. We know good enough Is a thousand miles from grace. Ain't it funny how life can drag behind us Just like so much dead weight. And my hometown train Is pulling from the station. And I know for once I really will be late. And i'll dream that we can leave the past behind us Just like so much dead weight. Sometimes I like to stick my fingers where they don't belong. Bothered (Don't be bothered, no.) Don't be bothered by the fears. I'll try to bottle them like my mother's perfume. She wore it only on Sunday, Kept it safe in her room in a chest with a key. We found it anyway. Don't be bothered by the fears. They'll only join us like the sky that blushes red tonight. And makes the wind die down, Calms the troubled sea (more out of duty than pleasure, But out of pleasure nonetheless.) Your fire burns me like a favorite song. A song I should have known all along. I feel you move like smoke in my eyes. And that is why. Don't be bothered by the fears That sing from my eyes like carillon ringing only on Sunday On the roof down our street finally Over the River. Ring for you, ring for me, finally, forever. It's just I never, it's just I never thought, I never thought that I could be this free. All I Need Is Everything Slow down. Hold still. It's not as if it's a matter of will. Someone's circling. Someone's moving A little lower than the angels. And it's got nothing to do with me. The wind blows through the trees, But if I look for it, it won't come. I tense up. My mind goes numb. There's nothing harder than learning how to receive. Calm down. Be still. We've got plenty of time to kill. No hand writing on the wall: Just the voice that's in us all. And you're whispering to me, Time to get up off my hands and knees, 'Cause if I beg for it, it won't come. I find nothing but table crumbs. My hands are empty. God I've been naive. All I need is everything. Inside, outside, feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. Slow down. Hold still. It's not as if it's a matter of will. Someone's circling. Someone's moving A little lower than the angels. This voice calling me to you: It's just barely coming through. Still, I clearly hear my name. I've been fingering the flame Like tomorrow's martyr. It gets harder to believe. All I need is everything. Inside, outside, feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. So from now till kingdom come, Taste the words on the tip of my tongue. 'Cause we can't run truth out of town, Only force it underground. The roots grow deeper In ways we can't conceive. All I need is everything. Inside, outside feel new skin. All I need is everything. Feel the slip and the grip of grace again. All I need is all I need. Lucy Oh Lucy, it's not as bad as you think. Oh Lucy, love's a fact that can make a girl drink. And you say that it's over. You say it's the end of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. Oh Lucy, there's a cold look in your eye. Oh Lucy, I believe this is the way most dreamers die. And Lucy's starting over. Lucy's at the edge of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy... God have mercy, The house stands empty with the garden. God have mercy, Your young girl's heart will learn to harden. Lucy, you can't pray a lie, No matter how hard you try. Lucy, you can't pray a lie. You're a bloody-minded girl and that's alright. You're gonna be just fine. Oh Lucy, it's not as bad as you think. Miles I wanna be real, Something you can sink your teeth into. I want you to feel, All it is that I feel for you. I'm firelight for your seeing hands. Rich perfume for your tastebuds. Your eyes are always Dark and deep, But we have promises to keep And miles to go before we sleep. Are you drunk, With the wine of God? Did your ship wreck As the tempest tossed you? You can write your name on the water, It'll drift on out to sea. You can treat me like a daughter, You can write your name on me. We touched a funeral, drank a parade. We stole a wedding, melted and prayed. It always hovers just around the bend. We're never quite there, but then again. Once a stranger now more than a friend- It all makes me pretty tired. I suppose that you're still wired. Your heart's on mine Beating double time, But we have promises to keep |and miles to go before we sleep. And miles to go... If I'm Drowning If i'm drowning within your open sea Save me, save me If i'm lost within your strange anatomy Talk to me, talk to me If i'm on fire and i'm melting in the heat Touch me, touch me If i'm tangled in your raw philosophy Then you better walk with me Walk with me I'm just walking across your heart In spite of the weather (won't you walk with me?) If i'm dancing through your passages and fall Catch me, catch me If i'm screaming in your sky and tell you all Hear me, hear me If i'm feigning coherence and calmness Laugh with me, laugh with me If i tremble at your close proximity Then you better believe me Believe me I can see you now I can hear you now I can feel you now I can taste you now In spite of the weather Yeah
Films For Radio
The world can wait If this should end tomorrow All our best laid plans And all our typical fears Am i running out of lifetimes This is not the first time Something ends in just tears But tomorrow i can't imagine How am i supposed to know What's yet to go down Is there only one religion The kind that whispers When nobody comes around The world can wait The world can wait I want to drink the water from your well I want to tell you things I'll never tell The world can wait The world can wait I'm wide awake And the world can wait I want to feel and then some I have five senses I need thousands more at least Every day a page of paper Every night a photograph A moveable feast So fade to black and white now Roll the movie of my life Inside of my head ‘cause like all true believers I am truly sceptical Of all that I have said The world can wait The world can wait I want to drink the water from your well I want to tell you things I'll never tell The world can wait The world can wait I'm wide awake And the world can wait Haven't I said enough Haven't I said far too much Haven't I done enough Haven't I done far too much Far too much The world can wait If nothing else I'm so tired in the mornings I try to go back I try to remember The light appearing Without warning Tying up my hands Like I'm good for nothing If nothing else I can dream I can dream I'll never tell never tell All I've seen Right in front of me Like the ghost of every thing that i could be For the night sky is an ocean Black distant sea Washing up to my window All the stray dog night owl junkies Orphans vagabonds Angels who lost their halos If nothing else I can dream I can dream I'll never tell never tell All I've seen Right in front of me, Like the ghost of every thing that i could be In the cool and callous grip of reality Words in my head Like misfits after midnight Begging for a light Words left unsaid They may never see the light of day And that may be okay If nothing else I can dream Give me strength Sitting in the rain alone Looking at a place that's gone Boarded up my memories But something's drawn me here again and i I cannot leave the past alone Hoped that I would never find All the shit I left behind Now I find the child in me is going to remind me that i I can't forget my past for long So take a look outside yourself And tell me what you see I can't believe That you won't see the change in me Give me strength to find the road that's lost in me Give me time to heal and build myself a dream Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me Give me strength to be only me I don't want to hear the things You say you know all you've redeemed ‘Cause I can't change what's come before Build myself some better dreams And cast off the fear that holds me here So take a look outside yourself And tell me what you see I can't believe That you won't see the change in me Give me strength to find the road that's lost in me Give me time to heal and build myself a dream Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me Give me strength to be only me Fairpoint diary I can't see my hands in front of my Face on a night like this I just look back on my life And think of all I've missed I grew up south of here in towns They tore apart for coal As if to excavate the darkest Secrets of my soul So it seems Life is just a troubled sea That we sail for free Don't let me drown If the rest of the world's goin' down You've got to breathe your breath in me Everybody's story is more Interesting than mine It took me twenty-some-odd-years To see I'd been born blind So I just feel my way to you I try to keep you close I'm never very good at getting What i need the most So it seems Life is just a troubled sea That we sail for free Don't let me drown If the rest of the world's goin' down You've got to breathe your breath in me The darkest part of every night Is just before the dawn The sun begins to rise When we admit that we were wrong So here I stumble home to you To find the words to use It seems the voices in my head I seldom get to choose So it seems Life is just a troubled sea That we sail for free Don't let me drown I radio heaven I radio heaven I get mixed signals I move the antenna I switch the channels I lie in this bed My satellite dish Is there room in the universe For one last wish (I say) Do you read me Over You wanna come Over I guess i never told you ‘bout this life I'm livin' It's heaven versus hell In a split decision This secret religion is The best that I've found I radio heaven When no one's around (I say) Do you need me Over You wanna come Over This song is grinning Go on and undress it It's just the beginning Go on and possess it You're no longer a child now Don't let them molest it The wound is deep I'm just trying to confess it The truth is i bleed you When these frequencies cut me I'm a slut with a mission A singular vision I radio heaven I get mixed signals I move the antenna I switch the channels I radio heaven I get mixed signals I move the antenna I switch the channels I lie in this bed My satellite dish Is there room in the universe For one last wish Little blue river/in the garden Roll me over the little blue river Church child Roll me over the little blue river Now church child Silence and dumb tongues It's a different kind of ghetto Carry the weight (it's heavy) Of a disreputed fellow Roll me over the little blue river Church child Roll me over the little blue river Now church child Every step that you've been taking Is straying a little further south As for me i am so tired of living (babe) So hand-to-mouth Roll me over the little blue river Church child Roll me over the little blue river Now church child Hey you wanna steady that cue card Make it a billboard today Everybody's saying they want their money back Ah well baby just roll me away Out of the mouth of them babies How they can talk Best be saving your pennies Put ‘em back for a very long walk Roll me over the little blue river Now church child Roll me Goodbye (this is not goodbye) Help me tell the truth you see That's all I'm trying to do is Tell the truth I'm not that shy This is not goodbye And later on I won't know how I don't know who else to be More and more I'm secretly just me Open your eyes Help me tell the truth you see That's all I'm trying to do is Tell the truth It's just in my head All I've left unsaid And later on it won't come out I have seen the final curtain fall If I have to I'll surrender all I'm always coming around too late Too late It's not too late Whatever you say In this dream It is as easy as it seems I put you away at the end of the day In this dream There are two hands untangling The knots in my throat But they won't go away So what about you Whatever you say Why can't it be true Whatever you say But this is no dream You are the deaf ear listening I know what it means to be seen And not heard It's no dream You are the blinded eye observing Open my mouth You can finger your way to the words I'm talkin' ‘bout you Whatever you say Why can't it be true Whatever you say There are some things I must let go I must let go I must let them go Just keep on tellin' me I told you so I know I know I know I know Whatever you say I fall into bed The whole horizon's turning red Writing our names with a needle and a thread Stitching the clouds As if the wounded sky had bled All of these words that will never be said Without you Whatever you say Why can't it be true Whatever you say The body is a stairway of skin The body Is a stairway Of skin You open the door I let you in Carry your story Through the thick and thin I feel the angels Dancing on a pin They dance The body Is a book Of matches A little fire Is required Of this kindling flame Ohio blue tip strike anywhere Strike me Anywhere The body Is a hallway Of mirrors You have to jump And a net will appear You can see There are so many of us Here Breaking Is the one thing We all fear Breaking is the one thing Break it down Break me down like the quiet part of a song The body Is an apple On a tree The body Is an apple On the very first tree Ripe Round Forbidden Ripe Round Shake it down Moth Same old question Without words So familiar Seldom heard If i answer I confess I am only Just a guess And with my eyes It's hard to see With my ears It's hard to believe that If I ever lose my will to live It was me that I could not forgive There's no savior hanging on this cross It isn't suffering we fear but loss This is closer than i ever came Just a burning moth without a flame Isaac's knife can Cut away All the poisoned Yesterdays And the anger Ease it down Into the ocean Let it drown As far as east is From the west I let you go I know it's best And my answer to the years of strife Is the way I choose to live my life There's no savior hanging on this cross It isn't suffering you fear but loss When there's no one else around to blame You're a burning moth without a flame Maybe I should take your face tonight Let you see yourself in a different light If i were to take your place tonight Wouldn't Jesus be surprised There's no savior hanging on this cross It isn't suffering we fear but loss This is closer than I ever came Just a burning moth without a flame It's an offer that you can't refuse It's a trophy that you'll want to lose But you'll do anything You're a burning moth without a flame When I go It makes a difference When you walk through a room With that worrisome smile Road weary perfume But this isn't the place And it isn't the time For this beautiful delusion That is robbing me blind I want to know I want to know Will it make a difference When I go It makes a difference That I'm feeling this way With plenty to think about And so little to say Except for this confession That is poised on my lips I'm not letting go of god I'm just losing my grip I want to know I want to know Will it keep you guessing When I go What is a love If the love's not my own This is not my home This is lonely But never alone I just want to hold you In my gaze for awhile So I can remember Every line around your smile Then I want to know I want to know Will it make a difference When I go
Ohio
B.P.D. You're makin' a mess Somethin' I can't fix This time you're on your own I'd make it alright But I wouldn't get it right I'm leavin' it alone For cryin' outloud Cryin' outloud Cryin' out You're cryin' out Yeah You're makin' a mess Is that what you do best? Is madness just a hand-me-down? It's anyone's guess But I must confess The performance isn't that profound Yeah I'm waiting for the end Waiting to begin again You're makin' a mess Somethin' you can't hide A slow suicide Just one bite at a time I should love you less But I can't I guess Only God can save us now Cryin' out Yeah What I'll Remember Most The saddest songs are the happiest The hardest truths are the easiest Put us both to the test And tell me if you still need me And I will swallow these words And see if I can still believe The biggest lies are the little ones When the look in your eyes is the distant one Angel or demon You know that they can share one bed I've laid awake so long I've got them both inside my head This is what I'll remember most about dying So many moments like ghosts Slipping through my hands in vain You were 80% angel 10% demon The rest was hard to explain This American dream may be poisonous Violence is contagious Crowded or empty I walk these city streets alone Whoever brought me here Is gonna have to take me home This is what I'll remember most about dying Loading these moments like a gun Hoping to kill the pain You were 80% angel 10% demon The rest was hard to explain Show Me I've lost the words It ain't my way Takes some a breath What takes me twenty-five years to say Baby you're my favorite rolling stone Elvis left the building I have never been so alone Come on and show me how it feels Come on and show me how it feels Can we make it last can we make it real Come on and show me how it feels It's only me in this flimsy dress I could spread this love from the east to the west The bed is made the world's a mess Maybe we've got it backwards Maybe we should just care less I close my eyes I see your face Every inch of your skin I begin to retrace Let me be the voice inside your head Listen to me whisper We can sleep when we're dead Jesus In New Orleans The last time I saw Jesus I was drinking bloody Mary's in the South In a barroom in New Orleans Rinsin' out the bad taste in my mouth She wore a dark and faded blazer With a little of the lining hanging out When the jukebox played Miss Dorothy Moore I knew that it was him without a doubt I said the road is my redeemer I never know just what on earth I'll find In the faces of a stranger In the dark and weary corners of a mind She said, The last highway is only As far away as you are from yourself And no matter just how bad it gets It does no good to blame somebody else Ain't it crazy What's revealed when you're not looking all that close Ain't it crazy How we put to death the ones we need the most I know I'm not a martyr I've never died for anyone but me The last frontier is only The stranger in the mirror that I see But when I least expect it Here and there I see my savior's face He's still my favorite loser Falling for the entire human race Ohio Hello Ohio The back roads I know Ohio Like the back of my hand Alone Ohio Where the river bends And it's strange to see your story end In my life I've seen a thousand dreams Through the threshers all torn to pieces And the land lay bare Someone turned a profit there And a good son lost his life in a strip pit When the sun went down we would all leave town And light our fires in Egypt Bottom And the reservoir was just as good for Joni ‘Cause we knew we would Dream out loud in the night air Holly said, Don't go inside the children's home Mary said, Don't leave your man alone Valerie was singin' to the radio Ohio It was summertime in ‘83 We were burnin' out at the rubber tree Wonderin' what in the world Would make all this worthwhile And if I knew then I was older then Would I see regret to the last mile Hello Ohio The back roads I know Ohio Like the back of my hand Alone Ohio Where the river bends And it's strange to see your story end How I hate to see your story end It's so sad to see your story end Suitcase Whatcha doin' with a suitcase Tryin' to hit the ground with both feet runnin' Aren't you trippin' on your shoelace You're stealin' away on a sunny day Well aren't you ashamed at all Funny but I feel like I'm fallin' I wanna beg you to stay You're stealin' away on a sunny day Why'd you love me in the first place You were always closer than a brother I can barely look at your face I've said my I've said my I've said my piece I'm on my I'm on my Down on my knees Whatcha doin' with a suitcase Whatcha doin' with a suitcase Anything At All I follow you from town to town I need it I'm better off when you're around I mean it Sooner or later Things will all come around again Sooner or later I won't need anything Anything at all I walk these streets alone at night When it hurts me A perfect life's an oversight You curse me Should've known better Than this esoteric love Down to the letter It don't mean anything Anything at all You and I I wrestle with these guilty thoughts And I'm losing You're all I am I'm what you're not Confusing Sooner or later Things will all come around for good Sooner or later I won't need anything Anything at all Professional Daydreamer Part of me You are a part of me I never want to lose Hard for me This is too hard Maybe I can't get through What will I miss the most Pray that I'm haunted by your ghost Listening You're always listening I don't know what to say Why don't you turn and run at break-neck speed Just to get away And when you catch your breath Pray I said every word I meant Alright it's alright now Alright it's alright Broken down We're all so broken down Bandages on our wings I know I don't have to tell you Only broken hearts can sing I'm hoping for a sign Pray that I'm anything but fine Some things are never gonna change You ought to know by now Lifelong Fling The moon blind-sided the sky again As we grabbed loose ends of the tide and then The slippery slide You know I can't say when I ever took a ride that could slap me this silly With roiling joy Lazy as sin Lyin' up in heaven with my special friend And the space he's in It can make a girl grin In the beginning of a lifelong fling I wrote down a dream Folded the note Slipped it in the pocket of my tattered coat I wrote down a dream In invisible ink It never was mine I'm beginning to think I wrote down a dream What more could I do I drew myself a picture and the picture was you I wrote myself a riddle I said, what I wouldn't do To give something good To a love like you I wrote down a dream Folded the note Passed it to you we stepped in our boat Sailed ‘round the world We were hoping to find More than the sum of all we left behind I wrote down a dream But what was it now And why does it feel so distant somehow Did I take too long Did I get it wrong You're still the missing line in my favorite song Changes Come Changes come Turn my world around I have my father's hand I have my mother's tongue I look for redemption in everyone I wanna wear your ring I have a song to sing It ain't over babe In fact it's just begun Changes come Turn my world around Changes come Bring the whole thing down I wanna have our baby Somedays I think that maybe This ol' world's too fucked up For any firstborn son There is all this untouched beauty The light the dark both running through me Is there still redemption for anyone Jesus come Turn the world around Lay my burden down Turn this world around Bring the whole thing down Bring it down Long Lost Brother I thought that we'd be Further along by now I can't remember how We stumbled to this place I loved you like a long lost brother On a bad day maybe I thought why bother I've seldom seen so much anger In a face I wanna do better I wanna try harder I wanna believe Down to the letter Jesus and Mary Can you carry us Across this ocean Into the arms of forgiveness I don't mean to laugh out loud I'm trying to come clean Trying to shed my doubt Maybe I should just keep My big mouth shut More often than not When it comes to you You want whatever's not in front of you Deep down I know this includes me too So tell me your troubles Let your pain rain down I know my job I've been around I invest in the mess I'm a low cost dumping ground Trouble is I'm so exhausted The plot, you see, I think I've lost it I need the grace to find what can't be found She What she would like to do Is get you out of her head She's tried every trick She's so sick of thinking about it What's so special about you You're an ache she's learned to crave You're a blade too dull to raise But she cuts herself On you every night She's just dying To lay down the knife What she would love to do Is get you out of her bed She's played it over and over and over In her head But she cuts herself On you every night She's just dying To lay down the knife She clings to what's familiar She thinks a change would kill her What she ought to do Is put a gun to your head For all the things you said and did But what she will not do Is let you go before you're gone It's everything that's ever been wrong But it's all she's ever known So she cuts herself on you every night She's just dyin' to lay down her life Nobody Number One I'm afraid I've lost the piece of me I need the most you see This puzzle is really just about the need To be somebody I'm afraid I'm not all that you see All along the coast of me I'm camouflaged, a desert mirage A nobody But you came so close and I assumed You were looking For the piece of yourself that's lost It is the hiding place inside everybody And though we love to numb the pain We come to learn that it's in vain Pain is our mother She makes us recognize each other C'mon now child don't cry C'mon now child don't cry Let's give it one more try C'mon now child don't cry Sometimes I feel so all alone Here in this city I call my home They say, Hey, you're one of us Funny, I should feel so anonymous But I'm drawn to you And that still small voice is talking too And that's the voice that so seldom can get through You can't put no Band-Aid on this cancer Like a twenty-dollar bill For a topless dancer You need questions Forget about the answers Do you really wanna die this way That's the trouble with you and me We always hit the bottom ‘fore we get set free I'm so far down I'm beginning to breathe C'mon now child don't cry C'mon now child don't cry Let's give it one more try C'mon now child don't cry ‘Cause we're just too young to die Cruel and Pretty He woke He knew that he was dying He spoke And found that he was flying Upstairs High above the city Through the ceiling of the stars So cruel and pretty Arms spread across the dark river The night air causing him to shiver Like the fluorescent lights in the Seven Eleven Meet me in the backstreets of heaven I don't wanna kiss you goodbye I don't wanna kiss you goodbye Hello, hello, hello, how the time flies I don't wanna kiss you goodbye He woke He knew that he was dying He spoke And found that he was flying Upstairs High above the city Through the ceiling of the stars So cruel and pretty Electric lines and wispy jet contrails Ships at sea and B&O train rails A tunnel of light like the Seven Eleven Meet me in the backstreets of heaven Remind Us I don't know where this is going I'm taking a ride on a wing and a prayer Follow me there We'll both be surprised If we forget anything Hopefully nobody will remind us Can't bear the news in the evening We're going to bed and we're going to war All of this for Anyone's guess If we forget anything Heaven forbid someone would remind us Sinners and saints, priests and kings Are we just using God for our own gain What's in a name Open your eyes If we forget everything There will be no one left to remind us I don't know where this is going I'm taking a ride on a wing and a prayer Follow me there We'll both be surprised How Long Have You Been Stoned What's it like to be the only somebody in the room Tell us all what does it cost you to be you Takin' out Daddy's trash now ain't it a drag Trippin' on Papa's brand new body bag How long have you been stoned Places Everybody places Embrace it It's the way it has to be Wasted Is everybody wasted Complacent Is anybody free How long have you been stoned When You Say Love I'm thinking of a word that has been Knocked up and overused You could say it's lost all meaning From so much abuse But when you say love, OH Most everything I ever wanted Doesn't really have a name But baby you're as close as I've come and I know that it sounds strange But when you say love, OH So open up my heart-shaped box It's full of combination locks I've swallowed all my love-sick pills To keep from getting chills Look at all the books I've read In my lonely single bed But when you say love, OH Fool Fool Fool me I'm just a sentimental fool It happened again When I remembered you And all that we've been through Love Truly I know this world it can be so cruel I won't let you go Fool Use me This is the part that I can't refuse Just do what you do My heart's becoming true It aches to make room for you Fool pursue me To heaven above or to hell below Just don't let go Fool me I'm just a sentimental fool I can't let you go Hometown Boy Hey love What do you say We get outta here today You ain't found your footing yet But someday you're going to fly My hometown boy Cars up on blocks The neighbourhood's gone to hell You wonder if the whole world's breakin' down But you feel somethin' You feel the need to run But you don't know why My hometown boy No love No sloe gin back porch nights for you We've got work to do White trash blowin' down the street Just pipe dreams on paper But starting tomorrow We've gotta try Me and my hometown boy Bothered Don't be bothered by the fears I'll try to bottle them Like my mother's perfume She wore it only on Sunday Kept it safe in her room In a chest with a key We found it anyway Don't be bothered by the fears They'll only join us like the sky That blushes red tonight And makes the wind die down Calms the troubled sea More out of duty than pleasure But out of pleasure nonetheless Your fire burns me like a favorite song A song I should have know all along I feel you move like smoke in my eyes And that is why Don't be bothered by the fears That sing from my eyes like carillon Ringing only on Sunday On the roof down our street Finally over the river Ring for you ring for me Finally forever It's just I never It's just I never thought I never thought that I could be this free Idea #21 (Not Too Late) Till we lay these weapons at your feet, Lord How long, how long Till we call all hatred obsolete, Lord How long, how long Till we walk like lovers thru Bethlehem How long, how long Till the lion lies down with the lamb, Lord How long, how long Too late I know it's not too late To wrestle with this angel Higher and higher Don't let go Higher and higher Before we know How does it end How does it end We're all riding on the last train Trying to find our way home again Till we wash the blood from the hands of our fathers How long We're all sisters and brothers, sons and daughters How long, how long Our eyes all shine in different colors we cry, Lord How long Our dreams our tears are all the same by and by, Lord How long, how long Too late I know it's not too late To climb up Jacob's ladder Higher and higher Don't let go Higher and higher Before we know How does it end How does it end We're all riding on the last train Trying to find our way home again It's not too late
Drunkard's Prayer
I want you to be my love I want you to be my love I want you to be my love 'Neath the moon and the stars above I want you to be my love I want you to know me now I want you to know me now Break a promise make a vow I know you want me now Like I want you I want you to be my love I want you to be my love 'Neath the moon and the stars above I want you to be my love 'Cause I want you I know all you All you've been through Born I was born to laugh I learned to laugh through my tears I was born to love I'm gonna learn to love without fear Pour me a glass of wine Talk deep into the night Who knows what we'll find Intuition, deja vu The holy ghost haunting you Whatever you got I don't mind Put your elbows on the table I'll listen long as I am able There's nowhere I'd rather be Secret fears, the supernatural Thank god for this new laughter Thank god the joke's on me We've seen the landfill rainbow We've seen the junkyard of love Baby it's no place for you and me I was born to laugh I learned to laugh through my tears I was born to love I'm gonna learn to love without fear Drunkard's prayer You're my water You're my wine You're my whiskey From time to time You're the hunger On my bones All the nights I sleep alone Sweet intoxication When your words Wash over me Whether or not Your lips move You speak to me Like an ocean Without waves You're the movement That I crave And in that motion I long to drown And be lost not to be found You're my water You're my wine You're my whiskey From time to time Bluer I cry just a little bit Just a little bit Everyday Get by just a little bit Just a little bit That way I know, I know I should have known Bluer Than the blue devils Bluer than this pale blue angel Bluer than all of my troubles Love is never far from danger I die just a little bit Just a little bit Everyday Get by just a little bit Just a little bit That way Let go, let go Now that you've gone Bluer Than the blue devils Bluer than this pale blue angel Bluer than all of my troubles Are we gonna leave here strangers Spark It's not the spark that caused the fire It was the air you breathed that fanned the flame What you think you'll solve with violence Will only spread like a disease Until it all comes 'round again Was john the only dreamer? Sleep with one ear close to the ground And wake up screaming When we lay our cold weapons down We'll wake up dreaming Obsessions with self-preservation Faded when I threw my fear away It's not a thing you can imagine You either lose your fear Or spend your life with one foot in the grave Is god the last romantic? Sleep with one ear close to the ground And wake up screaming When we lay our cold weapons down We'll wake up dreaming Only love can turn this around I wake up dreaming Everything we've lost can be found We'll wake up dreaming Hush now (stella's tarantella) Hush now my sweet little noisy boy There is trouble enough in the world Pick up your feet little lazy boy Come dance with your little girl Spin me 'round this kitchen floor Like a carnaval Troubadour I know we're only two-bit clowns In a one-ring circus But make me a little bit dizzy boy Swing me on your trapeze When I'm in the arms of my dreamy boy It still makes me weak in the knees Right here on this record player Is our scratchy song We're alone Slide trombones like an orchestra Full of fortune tellers Come now my sweet little breathing boy I'm listening hard to your heart It's as strong as a lion's boy Let's leave here and make a new start I remember once you said Lying in this bed The past is dead Everyday is a one-act play Without an ending Lookin' forward Walking out in the freezing rain I feel nothing 'cause I numbed the pain I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back On this day Prayed last night Dear god please no But I was never good at letting go I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back On this day Good news can be so unkind When it's everything you have to Leave behind I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back On this day In the taillights So much hindsight Telling me what I already know I know Little did I know Little did I know That I almost let you go Until I caught a glimpse of life Without you Little did I know How deep these roots had grown Until I felt the earth quake here Without you And this ache is gonna break me love Until you come back home Right or wrong There is no home without you And these eyes are never gonna dry I never knew how I could cry Until I thought I'd really lost you Little did I know that I almost let you go Until I caught a glimpse of life Without you Who will guard the door You were the hand that I tried to take You're the decision that I could not make You're the religion that I should forsake You were the story I tried to tell You were the savior that tripped and fell Beautiful dancing infidel Who will guard the door When I am sleeping Who will guard the door When I am sleeping I'm not sleeping You were the season that would Not change I often was the same Then four horseman came and stole My name I never saw you fall apart I never saw you work so hard Never saw you need no one I am my father's son Firefly My memory will not fail me now Hmm firefly in the night sky Only lights on the rise And I need you so firefly One satellite with a lazy eye Caught me by surprise With an ache in my belly And a taste in my mouth for fire My memory will not fail me now Hmm firefly in the night sky Only lights on the rise After the killing frost Where do you go Firefly My memory will not fail me now And the rest is history
My funny valentine ( Rodgers / Hart ) You're my funny valentine Sweet comic valentine You make me smile with my heart Your looks are laughable Unphotographable Still you're my favourite work of art Is your figure less than greek Is your mouth a little weak When you open it to speak Are you smart But don't change a hair for me Not if you care for me Stay funny valentine stay Each day is valentine's day Is your figure less than greek Is your mouth a little weak When you open it to speak Are you smart But don't you change one hair for me Not if you care for me Stay funny valentine stay Each day is valentine Each day is valentine's day
The Trumpet Child
I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time I don't wanna waste your time With music you don't need Why should I autograph the book That you won't even read I've got a different scar for every song And blood left still to bleed But I don't wanna waste your time With music you don't need I don't wanna waste good wine If you won't stick around I love to laugh but I'm more than just Your alcoholic clown I won't pray this prayer with you Unless we both kneel down I don't wanna waste good wine If you won't stick around Come on lighten up Let me fill your cup I'm just trying to imagine a situation Where we might have a real conversation But I don't wanna waste the words That you don't seem to need When it comes to wanting what's real There's no such thing as greed I hope this night puts down deep roots I hope we plant a seed ‘Cause I don't wanna waste your time With music you don't need Trouble If you came to make some trouble Better make it good Your sexy cocktail hour stubble Is doing what it should Looks may be sweet and subtle I think it's trouble honey I think it's good If you came to make trouble Make me a double honey I think it's good Novices have expectations ‘Cause they think they should Experts have their revelations Like they knew they would What may seem complicated Is overstated downright misunderstood Love will not be outdated Maybe placated but it's got to be good We're so precarious with semantics I think this could be trouble I think it's trouble honey I think it's good If you came to make trouble Make me a double honey I think it's good What may seem complicated Is overstated downright misunderstood Love will not be outdated Maybe placated but it's got to be good We're far too serious I think we could be Such nefarious pyromantics I'm On A Roll Black flamenco shoes Dahlias in my hair Garters on my stockings The sidewalk bends to stare I'm on a roll Ambition may be blind Diamonds come from coal You provide the rhythm babe I'll provide the soul I'm on a roll This oyster is my world My oyster's got a pearl This ain't no dress rehearsal I'm a very lucky girl I'm on a roll Tastes sweet on my lips Tender on my tongue All the road's ahead of me Oh the night is young I'm on a roll I'm on a roll Just like I oughta I'm on a roll I can't be bothered I'm on a roll I want the whole enchilada I'm on a roll Baby's got his bullhorn Confetti's in the air We're shakin' up Show Ponies ‘Cause we haven't got a care I'm on a roll I'm on a roll Just like I oughta I'm on a roll I can't be bothered I'm on a roll Cincinnati to Ensenada I'm on a roll From the thrift store to Prada I'm on a roll La de dah… Nothing Is Innocent We'd wake the dead With voices in our head We've gotten used to ignoring the truth We close our eyes And breathe and eat the lies That tell us we're so much better than you Silence is loud Humility is so proud Nothing is innocent now All the king's men Will serve scrambled eggs again When white-washed walls come crashing down We'll blink and nod And say, How odd And wonder why old friends don't come around Silence is loud Humility is so proud Nothing is innocent now The acid rain We fear the pain Will blister and burn the skin But what is more The fear we bore Will eat us alive from within Silence is loud Humility is so proud Nothing is innocent now For you and me In the land of the free Is anything innocent now? The Trumpet Child The trumpet child will blow his horn Will blast the sky till it's reborn With Gabriel's power and Satchmo's grace He will surprise the human race The trumpet he will use to blow Is being fashioned out of fire The mouthpiece is a glowing coal The bell a burst of wild desire The trumpet child will riff on love Thelonious notes from up above He'll improvise a kingdom come Accompanied by a different drum The trumpet child will banquet here Until the lost are truly found A thousand days, a thousand years Nobody knows for sure how long The rich forget about their gold The meek and mild are strangely bold A lion lies beside a lamb And licks a murderer's outstretched hand The trumpet child will lift a glass His bride now leaning in at last His final aim to fill with joy The earth that man all but destroyed Entertaining Thoughts I've been entertaining thoughts Of what I wanna say to you I've been entertaining thoughts Of what I'm gonna do I've been saving what I got And wondering who to give it to I've been entertaining thoughts all over you The way this works is so mysterious If it gets much worse it's called delirious If I were mad I would be furious But this could be so much more than Just another euphemism for... I've been entertaining thoughts Of what I wanna say to you I've been entertaining thoughts Of what I'm gonna do I've been saving what I got And wondering who to give it to I've been entertaining thoughts all over you You smoke your cigarette And wonder if it's happened yet The heavens slowly part and you ascend I wish that I could say that I'll have no regrets But I may have one of two Or three or four more than you... You will never even know Till it hits you fool Ooh, but I'm entertaining thoughts All over you Who'm I Kiddin' But Me Walk into the room with that curious grin Ain't nobody need to know the actual shape I'm in But oh, who'm I kiddin' but me Call you on the phone, I got nothin' to say Put my lips a little closer and stand there anyway ‘Cause oh, who'm I kiddin' but me I hang from my desire Like a rope swing from a tree I kick a little higher Singin' I Shall Be Released But oh, who'm I kiddin' but me The devil's in the details Call you on the phone, I got nothin' to say Put my lips a little closer and stand there anyway ‘Cause oh, who'm I kiddin' but me You smell like sweet magnolias And Pentecostal residue I'd like to get to know ya And shake the holy fire right out of you But oh, who'm I kiddin' but me The devil's in the details Let's Spend The Day In Bed Let's spend the day in bed Yeah that's what I said Let's lie down draw the shades Ditch the plans we made Rest your lovely bones And just stay home Turn off the telephone Picnic on the sheets Toss the dogs some treats Rub each other's feet We're not ashamed Of a little lazy love Till we're through I'm gonna spend the day in bed with you Let's spend the day in bed On our very own bed spread A pajama holiday Catch a black and white matinee Spoon-feed these new daydreams And just stay home We'll read Shel Silverstein Where The Sidewalk Ends Smile about old friends Try to comprehend One single day No work and only play Kick off your shoes I'm gonna spend the day in bed with you When life's a drag we'll get stoned on love Stoned on love Just stay home We need a groove that's all our own And we'll get stoned Just stay home We'll get stoned on love Stoned on love Let's spend the day in bed Forget all that I said We'll eat your favorite pie Ice cream on the side Lie here a la mode And just stay home Desperate For Love Are you feelin' A little desperate Get on your knees And confess it Honey please Don't second guess it You're desperate For love Is this just A little fling Or is it about A little bling bling Either way You feel the sting sting You're desperate For love It might only take a kiss For the plot to take a twist That you hadn't counted on Just a tiny little minute But eternity will be in it If you turn me on Red wine on my lips Got this black silk slip on my hips The kitchen faucet just drips and drips You're desperate for love Don't Wait For Tom He's got the hands of a blind piano player He's got a feel for the dark like a soothsayer He takes a little bow and tips his fedora Shouts like he's gonna save Sodom and Gomorrah Workin' for the circus X railroad bum Carnival barker for kingdom dot come Dusty ol' Gibson opposable thumb Bangs out the rhythm on a 50-gallon drum Don't wait for Tom Tom's long gone He's already moved on Don't wait for Tom I saw an ol' '55 Buick Just before dawn I said, Hey, hey Tom The sun's comin' up You got your wipers on Are you tryna make it rain again? Are you tryna make it rain again? Is it rainin' just around your bend? Are you tryna make it rain again? Sittin' in a corner with his pet muskrat Tossin' his cards into an old man's hat He grins at the girls and they always grin back He bets an old waltz he could get ‘em in the sack He makes his own music from the bell of a ‘bone A waitress's falsie and a railroad phone Bobs on his knees to an old tarantella South of the border he stole it from a fella Don't wait for Tom… His triple-jointed juke fingers splay like a scarecrow He kneels down and whistles to a fallen sparrow His eyes light up when they wheel in a piano He reads a dirty joke out of an old Baptist hymnal He wears a tuxedo made of sackcloth and ashes Has a tattoo of a girl who can bat her eyelashes Down on the river he was fishin' with a sword He knocked off John the Baptist for a word from the Lord He takes his coffee with the blood of a turnip Blushes his cheeks with an Amsterdam tulip Choppin' up a rooster for a pullet surprise If the gravy don't getcha he'll getcha with his eyes Hey Tom If A Song Could Be President If a song could be president We'd hum on Election Day The gospel choir would start to sway And we'd all have a part to play The first lady would free her hips Pull a microphone to her lips Break our hearts with Rhythm and Blues Steve Earle would anchor the news We'd vote for a melody Pass it around on an MP3 All our best foreign policy Would be built on harmony If a song could be president We'd fly a jukebox to the moon All our founding fathers' 45's Lightnin' Hopkins and Patsy Cline If a song could be president If a song could be president We could all add another verse Life would teach us to rehearse Till we found a key change Break out of this minor key Half-truths and hypocrisy We wouldn't need an underachiever-in-chief If a song could be president We'd make Neil Young a Senator Even though he came from Canada Emmylou would be Ambassador World leaders would listen to her They would show us where our country went wrong Strum their guitars on the White House lawn John Prine would run the FBI All the criminals would laugh and cry If a song could be president
Snow Angels All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue Strings of lights above the bed Curtains drawn and a glass of red All I ever get for Christmas is blue Saxophone on the radio Recorded 40 years ago All I ever get for Christmas is blue When you play my song Play it slowly Play it like I'm sad and lonely Maybe you can solve Solve my mystery Wrap me in your arms and whisper You miss me Weatherman says it's miserable But the snow is so beautiful All I ever get for Christmas is blue It would take a miracle To get me out to a shopping mall All I really want for Christmas is you Let them ring the bells They won't miss us I'll be drinkin' down your kisses Deep into the night We'll go stealing Underneath a starry ceiling Revealing White lights on the Christmas tree Thank God you are here with me All I ever get for Christmas is blue Darlin' (Christmas Is Coming) So it's been a long year Every new day brings one more tear Till there's nothing left to cry My, my how time flies Like little children hiding their eyes We'll make it disappear Let's start a brand new year Darlin' Christmas is coming Salvation army bells are ringing Darlin' Christmas is coming Do you believe in angels singing Darlin' the snow is falling Falling like forgiveness from the sky If I could have anything What would I want this new year to bring Well, I'd want you here with me Tear these thorns from my heart Help the healing to start Let's set this old world free Let's start with you and me White Horse Bring me a white horse for Christmas We'll ride him through the town Out into the snowy woods Where we will both lie down Underneath white birches Our faces toward the sky We will make snow angels With our white horse standing by Hush now baby One day we're gonna ride Hush now baby Our white horse through the sky Bring me a white horse for Christmas We'll ride him through the snow All the way to Bethlehem 2000 years ago I wanna speak with the angel Who said do not be afraid I wanna kneel where the oxen knelt Where the little child was laid Hush now baby One day you're gonna ride Hush now baby Your white horse through the sky No bridle will he be wearing His unshod hoofs they will fly Keep a watch out this Christmas For that white horse in the sky Hush now baby One day we're gonna ride Hush now baby Our white horse through the sky Hush now baby Let every angel sing Hush now baby One day we'll ride again Little Town O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie Above thy dark and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight The lamplit streets of Bethlehem We walk now through the night There is no peace in Bethlehem There is no peace in sight The wounds of generations Almost too deep to heal Scar the timeworn miracle And make it seem surreal The baby in the manger Grew to a man one day And still we try to listen now To what he had to say Put up your swords forever Forgive your enemies Love your neighbor as yourself Let your little children come to me New Redemption Song Lord we need a new redemption song Lord we've tried It just seems to come out wrong Won't you help us please Help us just to sing along A new redemption song Lord we need A new redemption day All our worries Keep getting in the way Won't you help us please Help us find the words to pray To bring redemption day Snowed In With You When you come home And all the world's asleep I'll close my eyes And breathe with sweet relief This world has had you Long enough for now And when I get you home I'll show you how I wanna get snowed in with you I wanna shake off these winter blues These ain't no blues that I can use And when the lights are gleaming I'll be leaning into you What's a girl to do? I wanna get snowed in with you I'm gonna make every effort to Be so good to you That when the snow melts away You'll want to stay Snowed in with me Till it's time to take down the tree And it's all I really need baby To be alone awhile with you What's a girl to do? Drift with me While we're still awake Every new snowflake Is like a wish we make Dream with me Leave your cares far behind Is all love snowblind? Let me awake in time to find That I'm snowed in with you I'm gonna make every effort to Be so good to you That when the snow melts away You'll want to stay Snowed in with me
North Pole Man
( Words and Music: Bergquist/Detweiler - Live from nowhere vol.2 ) North Pole man Come out of the cold North Pole man It's gettin' old Cold hands cold feet Darn snow darn sleet It takes good friction To make good heat Alright North Pole man Come in from the storm North Pole man Got to get you warm Hot rum steam heat My lips taste sweet I got warm cookin' Spread the table take a seat Alright Northpole man Can you afford to You outta come here Come south of the border Come down real slow It's warm down below It takes perspiration To melt the snow
Here It Is I cried when I wrote this I'll always remember The worst kind of lonely Is alone in December The act of forgiveness Is always a mystery The melting of ice And the future of history Some call it obsession I call it commitment I make my confession I make it in public I hope that it's helpful That others can use it That it's more than my ego And my need to abuse it I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas And here it is The leaves on the oak tree Hold on through the winter They're brown and their brittle They clatter together I can't seem to let go I'm so scared of losing The deeper the love goes The deeper the bruising The trouble with talking Is it makes you sound clever The trouble with waiting Is you'll just wait forever There's a loop of excuses That plays in your mind And makes the truth Even harder to find I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas And here it is When they blow Gabriel's horn Rip fiction from fact I want to get caught In some radical act Of love and redemption The sound of warm laughter Some true conversation With a friend or my lover Somewhere down the road We'll lift up our glass And toast the moment And moments past The heartbreak and laughter The joy and the tears The scary beauty Of what's right here I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas I'm wrappin' up my love this Christmas And here it is
One Olive Jingle
Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Now you look dashing in the snow In a one horse open sleigh Over the fields we go Laughing all the way Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle through the night Bells on bob tails ring Making spirits bright Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle through the night Oh through the night Snow Angel Once upon a winter It seems so long ago My one and only love and I Fell down upon the snow And as the dusk was falling From our gray and goose down sky We heard the old cathedral bells Ring out our lullaby Snow angel, snow angel Someday I'm gonna fly This cold and broken heart of mine Will one day wave goodbye Goodbye to this cruel wicked world And all the tears I've cried Snow angel, snow angel I'll meet you in the sky The rumors of a distant war Called my true love's name He packed his leather suitcase And spoke no word of blame We walked awhile together I tried to hide my fear He told me not to be afraid And whispered in my ear Snow angel, snow angel Someday I'm gonna fly This cold and broken heart of mine Will one day wave goodbye Goodbye to this cruel wicked world And all the tears I've cried Snow angel, snow angel I'll meet you in the sky They brought my love home from the war In a cart pulled by white mules The Christmas bells rang out that day Oblivious as fools And as the snow began to fall I kissed his frozen face They told me in his woolen coat His last few words were placed Snow angel, snow angel Someday I'm gonna fly This cold and broken heart of mine Will one day wave goodbye Goodbye to this cruel wicked world And all the tears I've cried Snow angel, snow angel I'll meet you in the sky We're Gonna Pull Through You take your own sweet time Order us a glass of wine And wink at all the rich folks in the room We're gonna pull through We've been careful, we've been good Doing most of the things we should But the picture is much bigger than we knew We're gonna pull through There's no such thing as cool And we're gonna pull through I'd rather feel your heat On a wicked winter day Than watch a holiday parade With dancers and balloons We're gonna pull through You hold me just the same way Levon would play And The Weight is my favorite song We're gonna pull through Breaking our own rules We're gonna pull through Maybe, sorta, kinda If I really had to say Something good is on its way And we're gonna pull through
The Long Surrender
The Laugh Of Recognition Come on boys It's time to settle down What do you think you'll gain From all this running around Come on boys It's time to let it go Everybody has a dream That they will never own Come on boys It's time to let her down You might be surprised How far she'll get With her feet on the ground So come on boys Every night we always Led the pack There and back And we never could do anything half You just have to laugh Oh you gotta laugh So come on boys It weren't not for trying It's called the laugh of recognition When you laugh but you feel like dying Come on boys Now don't be shy If we gotta walk away We gotta hold our heads up high You're not the first one to start again Come on now friends There is something to be said for tenacity I'll hold on to you If you hold on to me Come on boys
Sharpest Blade There was a time I could sleep anywhere My feet on a chair My heart in the woods But love was aloof Just a beggar for tips A mime on whose lips No promises stood But you cut me quick In the light of the shade With the edge of the green Of the yard's sharpest blade When nothing I knew Was all that it seemed I still dreamed Of a love to outlive us I still prayed That this night would outlast us And redeem some small thing Far beyond me Blossoms begin Like the tip of a spear Or the curve of a tear From a soldier who weeps Seducing the guard Of lost years falling by As flowers to lie On the dead feigning sleep But you cut me quick In the light of the shade, On the edge of the green Of the yard's dark parade; When nothing we knew Was all that it seemed I still dreamed Of a love to outlive us I still prayed That this night would forgive us And redeem some small thing Far beyond me But you cut me quick In the light of the shade, On the edge of the green Of the yard's sharpest blade; When nothing we knew Was all that it seemed I still dream Of a love to outlive us And I still pray That this night will convince us And redeem some small thing Far beyond me
Rave On Ramblin' over caliche With a busted muffler set it free Rock on Blastin' Buddy on the radio The Baptist wheat fields rolling low Rock on Rave on Messiah come in a flat-head Ford To the Kansas young and dumb and bored Rock on Adrenaline spills like blood that pours Screamin' out Prepare Ye the way of the Lord Rock on Rave on Redman scored between his teeth Jackrabbits scatter underneath Rock on Bear down deep into the soul The floorboard groans the rubber rolls Rock on Rave on Yeah we're hauling ass to Arkalon The ghost town on the Cimarron Rock on With eyes backlit by some wicked fire He pops the wheel of raw desire Rock on Rave on Blood is sweet, the veil is thin Let your wreckage cleanse my skin Never give up, never say die To the long surrender When the red tail dives Rock on Rave on
Soon Soon The near parade will find us Soon The fall-by-the-way may bind us Tongue and groove, body and fender The weight of your world is splendor Soon Soon The troubled past will leave us Soon The bird of fear won't need us The blood of our veins will guide us A map of the train inside us Soon Soon The howl of the angels will mark out time The gift of your heart frees me from mine Soon The night that we call forever Burns like a lost love letter Soon Soon Soon
Undamned Sometimes all we believe Turns out to be just a scam Just trying to get my world Get it undamned It's been my lifelong song Who'll take me just as I am Help me to get my world Get it undamned I've got a thousand lost songs Far too many they just got away I've done a thousand things wrong Far too many for me to name But I'm not too far gone To fall Headlong Into the arms that love me Don't count me out just yet I'm not your little lost lamb God might still get my world Get it undamned I've got a thousand lost songs Far too many they just got away I've done a thousand things wrong Far too many for me to name But I'm not too far gone To fall Headlong Into the arms that love me I've got a thousand lost songs Far too many they just got away I've done a thousand things wrong Far too many for me to name But I'm not too far gone To fall Headlong Into the arms that love me But I'm not too far gone To fall Headlong…
Infamous Love Song I sing The bebop apocalypse Lean into you God's hands on my hips Grip the midnight microphone Steel every cell of my flesh and bone I wrestle my angel In smoky stage lights Climb Jacob's ladder Two thousand more flights Tell St. Valentine, Hey gimme five Baby our love song must survive We were born in the dirt On our hands and knees But started out climbing Deciduous trees We learned to sway Ridiculously high Hungry to taste Mouthfuls of sky Now I bring all our secrets To show and tell How we dragged each other Through heaven and hell It's our smoking gun But hey, we're still alive Baby our love song must survive Your third-story windows On thirteenth and Main Still glow with an eerie Mysterious flame Where we learned to slow dance By dawn's early light And tried to be tender With all of our might And just down the street At the Milner Hotel Rosie's slopping the hogs And the infidels They all went out of business When the market took a dive Baby our love song must survive There's nights when I mostly Just feel like a thief With a prized possession A gleeful belief That love's both a joke And a serious matter You don't quite know your muse But you know when you've had her When I first saw your face yeah It hurt you to smile Your lips tasted like tears I could kiss them for miles On a midnight train May it never arrive Baby our love song must survive There's days when we lose Our appetite And days when we're bruised And losing the fight Of a lifetime, days When we're looking inside Wondering if We're half dead or alive But the slow honey drip Of those young nights long gone The memory's a friendly whip Urging us on My mouth on your lips Is just trying to revive Baby our love song must survive This love's the affirmation Of everything good The oxygen coursing Through the blood The feel of being understood The belief that, oh yes Somehow we could And the milky way looks Like a flimsy blouse But now we're gentrified In our civil war house Safe as a painting By Currier and Ives Baby our love song must survive So I still sing The bebop apocalypse Lean into you God's hands on my hips Grip the midnight microphone Steel every cell of my flesh and bone I still wrestle my angel In smoky stage lights Climb Jacob's ladder Two thousand more flights C'mon St. Christopher, how ‘bout a high five Baby our love song must survive Only God Can Save Us Now Margie struck Geneva with her baby doll Barb knocked off the medcart coming down the hall Bob leads the congregation when he sings How Now Brown Cow Only God can save us now Jean says Fuzzy wuzzy fuzzy wuzzy was a bear Miss Cleve sings Hallelujah from the choir in her chair Behind his busy apron Raymond's naked standing proud Only God can save us now Who will save me From myself In the night When my time has come and it may be coming soon Don't mind me if you come to find me howling at the moon I'll need a busy apron and a half-sedated crowd Only God can save us now A baby doll some chocolates and flowers made of silk A clean room with a window and some Prozac in warm milk And sneak us in some whiskey ‘cause it's probably not allowed Only God can save us now
Oh Yeah By The Way Oh yeah by the way Oh yeah by the way The thought of you it shook my head Just today Oh yeah by the way Oh yeah by the way What a waste that I still love you After the mess you've made What a waste that I'm not jaded Once in awhile I even smile What a waste you're just a stranger To me now Oh yeah by the way Oh yeah by the way There are still so many things I wonder if I should say, like What a waste that I still love you But I can't erase one scar All your self-inflicted wounds Have made you what you are So goodbye yesterday Goodbye yesterday I probably should have guessed that it could End this way What if I'm as good as you at Walking away
The King Knows How I feel as lonely As anybody Who's crying on a Friday night Once in a while On my radio dial I accidentally get it right I'm thinking I might be tempted to Slide on over Slide on over I'm thinking I need a little something to Tide me over Tide me over Till Memphis You know that lonesome Whippoorwill I know a girl who is bluer still Is that a jukebox altar call Or just a soft smoky place to fall I'm thinking I might be tempted to Slide on over Slide on over I'm thinking I need a little something to Tide me over Tide me over Till Memphis Cause the king knows how To take me all the way Yeah the king knows how The King knows how To take me all the way To Memphis I feel as lonely As anybody Who's crying on a Friday night I'm not laughing Because it's funny Hank is laughing ‘cause he's always right I'm thinking I might be tempted to Slide on over Slide on over I'm thinking I need a little something to Tide me over Tide me over You strike the match boy But do you know how To burn it all the way down To Memphis ‘Cause the king knows how The King knows how To take me all the way…
There's a Bluebird In My Heart There's a bluebird in my heart One that's drowning in its own wistful tune For fear of pending tomorrow and lofty full moons And never knowing where to start There's a bluebird with a song With little effort how she sings it so well Like a lover with a broken-throated story to tell I've kept her secret for so long Why do you always make me drink alone When it comes to losing you I'm always on my own There's a bluebird in my heart Drowning in bourbon and brushstrokes all night When all the ordinary sinners take flight No one will ever see your wings
Days Like This Days like this You look up at the sky above you Days like this You think about the ones that love you All I wanna do is live my life honestly I just wanna wake up and see your face next to me Every regret I have I will go set it free It will be good for me Days like this You think about the ones that went before you Days like this Have you ever seen the sky it's such a clear blue All I wanna do is live my life honestly I just wanna wake up and see your face next to me Every regret I have I will go set it free It will be good for me Days like this You think about the ones that love you Days like this Have you ever seen the sky it's such a clear blue
All My Favorite People All my favorite people are broken Believe me My heart should know Some prayers are better left unspoken I just wanna hold you And let the rest go All my friends are part saint and part sinner We lean on each other Try to rise above We're not afraid to admit we're all still beginners We're all late bloomers When it comes to love All my favorite people are broken Believe me My heart should know Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers Step forward You can stay right here You don't have to go Is each wound you've received Just a burdensome gift It gets so hard to lift Yourself up off the ground But the poet says We must praise the mutilated world We're all working the graveyard shift You might as well sing along All my favorite people are broken Believe me My heart should know As for your tender heart This world's gonna rip it wide open It ain't gonna be pretty But you're not alone ‘Cause all my favorite people are broken Believe me My heart should know Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers You're welcome Yeah, you're safe right here You don't have to go ‘Cause all my favorite people are broken Believe me I should know Some prayers are better left unspoken I just wanna hold you And let the rest go
Meet Me At The Edge Of The World
Meet Me At The Edge Of The World One lone tupelo stood against the ironweed The goldenrod that tamed our need For something other than fear and greed Meet me at the edge of the world Expectations great and small Unfettered us as I recall From dreams we scaled before the fall Into the lap of the world Cold hard tied like rebar frames Pale skeleton of the man remains We're floating checks and naming names Paper airplanes to the edge of the world I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake But I remember that face All the miles we misplaced Leave behind all but one trace And walk me to the edge of the world That lone tupelo soon will be on fire For all I know with God's desire As Autumn in Ohio spirals Off of the edge of the world Here we stand on cold concrete ground ‘Cause someone said they liked the sound I'm thankful that they've hung around But I'm craving the edge of the world Is it time to disappear Oh babe, can we just get out of here You and me love and no one near Walk me to the edge of the world Meet me at the edge of the world I'm waiting at the edge of the world
Called Home Just shy of Breakin' Down There's a bend in the road that I have found Called home Take a left at loneliness There's a place to find forgiveness Called home With clouds adrift across the sky Like heaven's laundry hung to dry You slowly feel it all will be revealed I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Where evening shadows come to fall On the awful and the beautiful Every wound you feel that needs to heal And silence yearns to hear herself Some long lost memory rings a bell Called home Old pre-Civil War brick house Standin' tall and straight somehow Called home Mailbox full of weariness And a word of hard won happiness Called home Leave behind your Sunday best You know we couldn't care a less Out here we've learned to leave the edges wild And stories they get passed around And laughter – it gets handed down Read it in the lines around a smile Our bodies' motion comes to rest When we are at last Called home
Sacred Ground Love me like a memory held too long Like the need to feel some forgotten song Kiss me to chills like there's only me Like it's hard to kill the last cottonwood tree Love me later when the stars fall down A burning light for a wedding gown I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake They stole the blood right out of this ground They'd still kick a flower when it's down Help me trace the scars on mountains The sun that sets in a bloody fountain Take me home and lay me down On the hungry earth (Love me, love me) On the sacred ground Love me like the breath you held too deep Like the need you feel to lay still beneath Leave me with teeth marks on my skin Like some holy spirit's tryna get in Love me like a rumor you can't outlive Like the deepest cut you'll ever forgive They stole my blood right out of this ground They'd still kick a flower when it's down Help me trace the scars on mountains The sun that sets in a bloody fountain Take me home and lay me down On the hungry earth (Love me, love me) On the sacred ground
I'd Want You If the moon fell from the sky Rendering everything black and blue I'd want you I'd want you If the swallows fell like snow Tumbling tiny angels with wounds I'd want you I'd want you I'd want you I'd want you I will lay my body down When the storm is finally through I'd want you I'd want you I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake If my faith should ever fail Faltering look what I dragged it through I'd want you I'd want you If the music all went still Enabling all my fears to come true I'd want you I'd want you I will lay my body down When the storm is finally through I'd want you I'd want you I'd want you I'd want you
Gonna Let My Soul Catch My Body Gonna let my soul catch my body My body make up my mind Gonna let my soul catch my body My body make up my mind This world makes me weary I'm livin' here on borrowed time Gonna pray the Lord free my spirit The spirit gonna give a sign Gonna pray the Lord free my spirit The spirit gonna give a sign This world makes me weary Sellin' me what's never been mine Now if I'm good to be my body My body she'll point the way Now if I'm good to be my body My body she'll point the way Oh these days they are numbered I might not have too long to stay I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Gonna lay out fine linen Gonna make up my dyin' bed I'm gonna lay out fine linen Gonna make up my dyin' bed If you call me sweet Jesus I'm ready to lay down my head Gonna let my soul catch my body My body make up my mind Gonna let my soul catch my body My body make up my mind This world makes me weary I'm livin' here on borrowed time Oh, this road makes me weary I'm livin' here on borrowed time All Of It Was Music The night was bending in a grin As streetlight shadows tattooed skin Whatever we were tangled in All of it was music The bed sheets were our whitest flag The war became a game of tag We surrendered all we had And all we had was music The humming of the window unit The street noise often sang right through it A drunken song somehow we knew that Even it was music The newness of uncovered skin Your messy hair your goofy grin Your shattered places deep within All of it was music To those I've wronged, Please forgive me I hope this song, helps you believe me The holding on the letting go It all gets buried soft and low But even then a song might grow All of it was music I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake We left the city far behind We traveled light we traveled blind With no idea what we'd find Or whether we could use it The rolling fields were lined by trees Wild flowers brought us to our knees The poison ivy thick as thieves— We swung an ax to bruise it A place where we could rest awhile Where hummingbirds could thrum for miles And we could leave the edges wild And let wild birds sing through us Fires where all our sparks could scatter Midnight stars could drop their ladders I'm not sure any of it matters But all of it was music To those I've wronged, Please forgive me I hope this song, helps you believe me The holding on the letting go It all get buried soft and low Don't ask me how but I still know All of it was music To those I've wronged, Please forgive me I hope this song, helps you believe me This world so full of joy and pain Was more than one heart could contain We let it spill and flood the plain All of it was music Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down Feel the ache of Ohio Through the veins of Illinois Mine the seams of West Virginia Land of buried joy Lean into the half-light Fade into the night Moonrise hovers on the highway shoulder And scatters into light I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Don't let the bastards get you down Don't let the bastards get you down Backroads shining in the moonrise She's a dragon with a lazy eye Canary's in the coal like a fallen soldier Drunk on the song of a little white lie Don't let the bastards get you down Don't let the bastards get you down Are they gonna steal my love Are they gonna steal my love Are you gonna free my love Are you gonna free my love Three birds sittin' on a chainlink fence Got no cares in this world Don't let the bastards get you down Don't let the bastards get you down Don't let the bastards get you down Don't let the bastards get you down
Highland County How did you find me I can't remember anymore Along the Ohio My wreckage washed upon your shore As sure as the snow is gonna fall In Highland County I want you to know your kindness Through this night has found me Now that you found me How do I offer all my thanks A river's still flowing Love can still overflow its banks As sure as the snow is gonna fall In Highland County I want you to know the angels that you sent Surround me How I'm gonna miss How I'm gonna miss How I'm gonna miss your smile It's good to reminisce Now that it's come to this I hope and pray it's been worthwhile Now as the day dies Fading into gray Straight as the crow flies Silence speaks all we need to say As sure as the snow is gonna fall in Highland County I want you to know that mockingbird you sent it found me I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake As sure as the sun is gonna shine in Highland County I want you to know your kindness through this night has found me How did you find me
Wait Wait for the sound of the water dog To call up the ghosts through the cracks in my past Make the hair raise on my skin Tonight we'll settle in Into a promise that I've held fast Life is a beauty that's mocking you She's a river to drown in while singing the blues Let the backstroke pull you in On your lover you descend Leaving your mark without leaving a bruise Make the sound That I need you to Hit the ground Like it's haunting you Come around Like you're dying to Then wait… I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Wait for the sound of the water dog To call up the ghosts through the cracks in my past Make the hair raise on my skin Tonight we'll settle in Into a promise that I've held fast All Over Ohio Well the rain it has been falling Like it wants to drown us all And the trees are gently swaying Like they're thinkin' ‘bout the fall I still get shivers when I hear You singin' down the hall I'm gonna kiss you all over Ohio And the starlings they were flying Earlier today Doing their maneuvers Clouds of feathers on display Makes me wanna kneel in prayer but I've forgotten what to say I'll just name all the birds in Ohio Now the reason I am writing Is to tell you ‘bout the flood Ahh, the river is so beautiful But it leaves a load of mud All I have now are these dirty songs I guess they're in my blood They make me wander so far from Ohio (Yeah) It's a silly undertaking To fly halfway ‘round the earth With an imaginary womb of songs Intent on giving birth I gave all that I had to give I'm not sure what it's worth Scatter the ashes right here in Ohio All I wanna be is a thousand black birds Bursting from a tree into the blue Love, let it be not just a feeling But the broken beauty Of what we choose to do I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake And the halleujah chorus Used to make my Daddy cry I still wonder ‘bout the ruckus Angels make up there on high In the meanwhile there are measures We can take to get us by Lay me down next to you in Ohio But my expectations stand still Like beggars at the door I'm flat broke from the dues I've paid them all before Gonna let the Cuyahoga Wash me up on burning shores Shipwrecked with you in Ohio All I wanna be is a thousand black birds Bursting from a tree into the blue Love, let it be not just a feeling But the broken beauty Of what we choose to do I have seen the slow corruption Of the best ideas of Christ In the pulpits of our nation Gospel turned into white lies If you preach a subtle hatred The bible as your alibi Goddam you right here in Ohio But my shameless hallucination: He's still knockin' at my door And I know how this one's gonna end He's gotten in before I've run as fast as I can run I've had to ask, what for He haunts me all over Ohio All I wanna be is a thousand black birds Bursting from a tree into the blue Love, let it be not just a feeling But the broken beauty Of what we choose to do Well the rain it has been falling Like it wants to drown us all And the trees are gently swaying Like they're thinkin' ‘bout the fall I still get shivers when I hear You singin' down the hall I'm gonna kiss you all over Ohio
Earthbound Love Song When you find your little dream Costs you everything I hope your broken bluebird heart Still sings When you find the kiss that brings The holy aftermath Follow that blinding light down a crooked path And wind up here In an earthbound love song I wanna see you smiling On Sunday afternoon I want your soul to sing you An everlasting tune Some questions cannot be answered Who's gonna bury who We need a love like Johnny Johnny and June You might feel you gotta find your way home Mostly all alone Jacob's ladder's still hangin' But the angels are gone Long gone They left the jukebox loaded Our world exploded Did the preacher have it all wrong Is heaven a place you fly off to When the day is done Or do you work right here On an earthbound love song I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake I wanna see you swayin' On Sunday afternoon I want your soul to sing you An everlasting tune Some questions cannot be answered Who's gonna bury who We need a love like Johnny Johnny and June Some questions cannot be answered Who's gonna bury who We need a love like Johnny Johnny and June We need a love like Johnny Johnny and June
Against The Grain Rolling boxcars Made a big impression on you 200 rolling acres Singin' them shape note blues Swinging high and rolling low Doesn't much matter which way we go Outbound train moving fast and slow away Hey… Heaven's angels Are they ridin' shotgun with you Welcome strangers Sitting at a table for two People come places go Only one sure thing that I know If the train's sold out You gotta stow away Hey… You can ride with me Far and wide and free… Sketching familiar faces on the barn Whitewashed by the dawn… Against the grain leave the edges wild Come now child I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Rolling boxcars Made a big impression on you 200 rolling acres Singin' them shape note blues
It Makes No Difference It makes no difference where I turn I can't get over you and the flame still burns It makes no difference, night or day The shadow never seems to fade away And the sun don't shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door Now there's no love As true as the love That dies untold But the clouds never hung so low before It makes no difference how far I go Like a scar, the hurt will always show And it makes no difference who I meet They're just a face in the crowd on a dead-end street And the sun don't shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door These old love letters Well, I just can't keep Just like the gambler says Read 'em and weep And the dawn don't rescue me no more Without your love, I'm nothing at all Like an empty hall, it's a lonely fall Since you've gone it's a losing battle Stampeding cattle, they rattle the walls And the sun don't shine anymore And the rains fall down on my door I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Well, I love you so much That it's all I can do Just to keep myself from telling you That I've never felt so alone before
Blue Jean Sky All the ghosts are in the trees All afire in the glowing leaves Love makes me wanna skin my knees Throw my heart upon your healing Underneath a blue jean sky Underneath a blue jean sky Open up your love and show it to me Underneath a blue jean sky Underneath a blue jean sky Gimme a swig of a little kick ass beauty Just the whisper of a breeze Rollin' up these threadbare shirtsleeves Love makes me want to bruise my knees Sweet Jesus can you come release me Underneath a blue jean sky Underneath a blue jean sky Open up your love and lay it on me I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Underneath a blue jean sky It's just a faded blue jean sky Gimme a swig of a little kick ass beauty Gimme a swig of a little kick ass beauty All the ghosts are in the trees Baby If This Is Nowhere Baby if this is Nowhere How sweet it is to find Baby if this is Nowhere How sweet it is to find Now that we are finally here Nowhere suits me fine I'm crazy for you baby I hope that you can see I'm crazy for you baby I hope that you can see When we disappear here Ain't nowhere I'd rather be Baby if this is Nowhere Ain't it good to know Baby if this is Nowhere Ain't it good to get to know We're right where we belong When there's nowhere left to go So welcome now to nowhere Where there's nothin' left to lose Welcome now to nowhere There's nothin' left to lose Out here where the sky's got a big ol' Case of the blues I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake Baby if this is Nowhere Then let the good dogs run Baby if this is Nowhere Then let the good dogs run Finally we will lift a glass When the dog days are done Finally we will lift a glass
Wildflower Bouquet If I die in the winter send roses In the spring, magnolias If I'm called in the summer or in the fall Best of all, bring me a wildflower bouquet In the dirt and clay don't lay me down And stare at a cold lonely hole in the ground When I go to my Maker in smoke and ash It won't be your grief I crave Your tears will not be necessary Build a blazing fire, drink something merry When the sparks fly off into the wind That will be me blowing away Bury my ashes with the dogs I've loved My faithful companions from God above And ‘neath a sycamore we'll grow strong And the roots will bear us away If my one true Love should join me there Mother nature soon will be aware That sycamore will thrum and sing And we'll have left it that way I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake So I don't want you to feel sorry God knows how I despise your pity And I'll no longer bear the weight of worry Those angry robes all fall away I'll be singing loud and laughing long A blaze of glory and an untold song So there's no need for tears my friend Just bring a wildflower bouquet If I die in the winter send roses In the springtime, magnolias If I'm called in the summer or in the fall Best of all, bring me a wildflower bouquet Best of all, bring me a wildflower bouquet Favorite Time Of Light Leave the dishes in the sink don't overthink it Close up the brokenhearted piano Join me on the porch if you can swing it Let's dream an ocean in Ohio You've been working so hard I can feel it - The clean and honest sweat upon your skin I wanna see the rosy light on your face Is this evening free or did it cost us everything It's our favorite time of light Just before the day kisses the night You see the redwing blackbirds fly The sun's a big ol' lazy eye And when the day is bending low And rolling fields begin to glow Feels like we traveled all this way Just so I could hear you say It's our favorite Our favorite time of light Can you still hear those children singing? Remember Jesus Loves Me This I Know Now there's just a lone blue heron flying Dreaming an ocean in Ohio It's our favorite time of light Just before the day kisses the night You see the redwing blackbirds fly The sun's a big ol' lazy eye I'm always on the run and I hate copy paste for god's sake The moon is waiting in the wings Dreamin' up some midnight song to sing And I know we'll be okay Everytime I hear you say It's our favorite Our favorite time of light The dreams I've dreamed I give them all to you now I'm not really sure what shape they're in Maybe they were all just too expensive Maybe after dark we'll try again So add this to your list of simple beauties I know we're gonna miss it when we go While barren fields undress their gentle mysteries We dream an ocean in Ohio It's our favorite time of light Just before the day kisses the night You see the redwing blackbirds fly The sun's a big ol' lazy eye When they lay me down at last And this life is finally past Just remember me this way And don't forget to say It's our favorite Our favorite time of light
Blood Oranges in the Snow
Blood Oranges In The Snow Just a little while longer Before we know We'll be eating blood oranges In the snow The border crossing Was moving slow With all this weather It's been touch and go But we keep driving We're not afraid The snow in our headlights Confetti in a parade And we've got maybe Oh, a 100 more miles I'm gonna hold Grace's baby They say she's all smiles Just a little while longer Before we know We'll be eating blood oranges In the snow Daddy's gonna play Red Wing Like it's the only song he knows Mama's washin' dishes Singin' soft and low She'll ask me to play From the gospel hymnal Try to find an old song She don't know Who Made The Lilies? On The Jericho Road Let The Lower Lights Be Burning Be Still My Soul Just a little while longer Before we know We'll be eating blood oranges In the snow And he will gather us All of us kids And read pioneer stories Of the great north woods And the silent panther Patient in the trees With the pioneer children Walkin' home beneath Just a little while longer Before we know…
Another Christmas Another Christmas is drifting in softly Like the ghost of my innocence lost And the tree in the corner burns brightly I turned all the other lights off I think back on my life in this stillness I consider the days of my youth And the moments I find myself willing To surrender and just tell the truth ‘Cause I've committed every sin And each one leaves a different scar It's just the world I'm livin' in And I could use a guiding star I hope that I can still believe The Christ child holds a gift for me Am I able to receive Peace on earth this Christmas This old world so sweet and so bitter Seeds of violence we humans have sown And these weapons we still love to handle May our children have strength to let go When we look at the stars after midnight Sparkling rumors of redemption at play Can we still hear the echoes of angels Who were singing that first Christmas day ‘Cause we've committed every sin And each one leaves a different scar It's just the world we're living in And we could use a guiding star I hope that we can still believe The Christ child holds a gift for us Are we able to receive Peace on earth this Christmas Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn king Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim Peace on earth this Christmas
My Father's Body My father's body lies beneath the snow High on a hill in Holmes County, Ohio From there you can look out across the fields A farmer guides his horses home as day to darkness bends And finally yields Dad's gravestone holds the words Be Still My Soul A song we sang together long ago And there were times we even shared one hymnbook His right hand and my left hand side-by-side holding pages Of music But now his hands hold nothing but the earth Hands that held me moments after my birth And so we must all finally surrender As we release our grip upon whatever we hold dear And call familiar My father's body lies beneath the snow And I'm still learning how to let him go I've come to know him better since he's gone And often wondered if or how I could've been a different Better son My father's body lies beneath the snow Sometimes on Christmas Eve that's where I go I hear faint Christmas bells from far away Ring out all the unspoken words I've never found within myself To say
If We Make It Through December If we make it through December Everything's gonna be alright I know It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow If we make it through December Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime Maybe even California If we make it through December we'll be fine Got laid off down at the factory And the timing's not the greatest in the world Heaven knows I've been workin' hard Wanted Christmas to be right for Daddy's girl I don't mean to hate December It's meant to be the happy time of year And my little girl don't understand Why Daddy can't afford no Christmas here If we make it through December Everything's gonna be alright I know It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow If we make it through December Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime Maybe even California If we make it through December we'll be fine If we make it through December Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime Maybe even California If we make it through December we'll be fine
Let It Fall Have you been trying too hard Have you been holding too tight Have you been worrying too much lately All night Whatever we've lost I think we're gonna let it go Let it fall Like snow ‘Cause rain and leaves And snow and tears and stars And that's not all my friend They all fall with confidence and grace So let it fall, let it fall Have you been carin' too much How this one ends Y'know it's not the kind of fight That you lose or win When you're down so low You feel the imprint of the ground On skin Look around Breathe in ‘Cause rain and leaves And snow and tears and stars And that's not all my friend They all fall with confidence and grace So let it fall, let it fall
Non Albums Tracks
Angel Band ( Traditional / Live From Nowhere Volume 3 ) My latest sun is sinking fast My race is nearly run My strongest trials now have past My triumph is begun Oh, come, angel band Come and around me, stand Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home Bear my longing heart to him Who bled and died for me Whose blood now cleanses from all sin And gives me victory Oh, come, angel band Come and around me, stand Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home
Anyway
(Amateur Shortwave Radio LP) It's enough for now Besides i feel so awkward Anyway And there is no doubt I could sleep for hours Anyway (i'll never leave you now) Any recourse now Well it's much too late Anyway And our hate Like toys Should be put away Anyway (i'll never leave you now) No wonder this confusion You've suffered all my delusions We can right the end We can close this chapter Anyway We can start again No matter what comes after Anyway (i'll never leave you now)
Baby, It's Cold Outside ( Frank Loesser Cover / Live from nowhere vol.2 ) I really can't stay - Baby it's cold outside I've got to go away - Oh baby it's cold outside This evening has been - Been hoping that you'd drop in So very nice - I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice My mother will start to worry - Beautiful, what's your hurry My father will be pacing the floor - Listen to the fireplace roar So really I'd better scurry - Beautiful, please don't hurry well maybe just a half a drink more - Put some music on while I pour The neighbors might think - Baby, it's bad out there Say, what's in this drink - No cabs to be had out there I wish I knew how - Your eyes are like starlight now To break this spell - I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell I ought to say no, no, sir - Mind if I move a little closer At least I'm gonna say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride And I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out Oh, but baby it's cold outside C'mon baby I simply must go - Baby, it's cold outside The answer is no - Oh baby, it's cold outside This welcome has been - I'm lucky that you dropped in So nice and warm - Look out the window at that storm My sister will be suspicious - Man, your lips look so delicious My brother will be there at the door - Waves upon a tropical shore My granmother's mind is vicious - Gosh your lips look delicious Well maybe just a half a drink more - Never such a blizzard before I've got to go home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there Say, lend me your comb - It's up to your knees out there You've really been grand - Your eyes are like starlight now But don't you see - How can you do this thing to me There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Making my life long sorrow At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died I really can't stay - Get over that old out Oh, but baby it's cold outside Oh yes it is Wanna take a little walk out to the barn Is that where you keep your big white horse
Blackbird
(John Lennon & Paul McCartney / Amateur Shortwave Radio LP) Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly Life, all your life, all your life You were only waiting You were only waiting for this moment to arise Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes and learn to see All your life, all your life You were only waiting You were only waiting for this moment For this moment to be free Oh Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly Fly into the black dark night Fly into the black dark night Fly Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Everybody Wants to Feel Like You ( John Prine cover / Live from nowhere vol.2 ) I wake up to a clock that's rinning And the birds are singing on my telephone line I work all day and I chase my baby Why don't he chase me sometime Everybody wants to be wanted I mean I ain't no scarecrow cop I don't need no transalazation I don't need no diddly bop Next time tell me that you want me Put your little foot inside of my shoe Next time you tell me that you need me Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you I used to love you so hard in the morning I'd make you stutter and roll your eyes I put your mind on a brief vacation To the land of the lost surprise Next time tell me that you want me Put your little foot inside of my shoe Next time you tell me that you need me Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you You got a heart that beats like mine love You got a bell that rings so true I got this feeling I got to tiptoe Round every little thing you do Next time tell me that you want me Put your little foot inside of my shoe Next time you tell me that you need me Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you Everybody wants to feel like you Like you, like you Failed Christian ( Nick Lowe Cover / Live from nowhere vol.2 ) I'm a Failed Christian I don't go to church I smoke and I drink And I lie and I curse It never got to me Your sermon and all You talked and you talked About nothing at all I'm a Failed Christian Failed Christian, yeah I've got two recollections Taking the collections And tears when the choir sang in harmony It scared me half to death I swore as I left With a inside pocket full of change and memories I'm a Failed Christian Failed Christian I'm a Failed Christian I've got my own church I pray with my soul To this great universe All over the world The bloods on their hands Religious instruction I can't understand I'm a Failed Christian, Failed Christian, yeah I'm going to meet my maker A firm believer Of spirit in music There's a prayer in a song I'm a Failed Christian And if I'm go under And you're coming with me That much I can't tell I'm a Failed Christian Failed Christian, yeah Failed Christian Failed, failed, failed... I'm a Failed Christian I don't go to church I smoke and I drink And I lie and I curse
Fever ( Eddie Cooley, Otis Blackwell / Live from nowhere vol.2 )
What a lovely way What a lovely way What a lovely way to burn Never know how much I love you Never know how much I care When you put your arms around me I get the fever that's so hard to bear You give me fever When you kiss me And fever when you hold me tight Fever In the morning Fever all through the night Sun lights up the daytime Moon lights up the night I light up when you call my name Cause you know I'm gonna treat you right You give me fever When you kiss me And fever when you hold me tight Fever In the morning Fever all through the night Listen to me babe Here are the real words I say No-one can love you the way that I do Cause they don't know how to love you my way My love your fever When I kiss you Fever if you live and learn Fever, and you sizzle What a lovely way to burn What a lovely way to burn, oh baby What a lovely way, oh, to burn What a lovely way What a lovely way, oh to burn
Green-Clouded Swallowtail
(The Cutting Room Floor LP) We wake each morning in a foreign country We walk the outer edges of our room I think of you in terms of buried treasure A jilted bride emerging from a tomb Oh your shadow is still breathing The close and holy darkness will unveil Mother she's not dead she's only sleeping Green green-clouded swallowtail I've learned to love the feel of this barbed wire The skin that separates your heart from mine It tears the fabric of my ordinary And rips the cloudy curtain of my sky Oh your shadow is still breathing The close and holy darkness will unveil Mother she's not dead she's only sleeping Green green-clouded swallowtail So sing the hallelujah chorus of the drunkard You're the woman blowing kisses to the jail And dreaming of a different kind of freedom The breath of God upon your tattered sail Oh your shadow is still breathing All this darkness it will not prevail Mother she's not dead she's only sleeping Green green-clouded swallowtail
Helpless (Neil Young Cover / The Cutting Room Floor LP)
There is a town in north Ontario With dream comfort memory to spare And in my mind I still need a place to go All my changes were there Blue, blue windows behind the stars Yellow moon on the rise Big birds flying across the sky Throwing shadows on our eyes Leave us Helpless, helpless, helpless Baby can you hear me now (helpless, helpless, helpless) The chains are locked and tied across the door (helpless,helpless, helpless) Baby, sing with me somehow (helpless, helpless, helpless) Blue, blue windows behind the stars Yellow moon on the rise Big birds flying across the sky Throwing shadows on our eyes Leave us Helpless, helpless, helpless...
I Let It Go
(The Cutting Room Floor LP) I wanted to sing you a song This gift I was given has all come out wrong I wanted to give you so much I came all this way just to hand you a broken crutch I let it go This life I know Seeds that we sow May come to dust I let it go One thing I know What's real will grow Inside of us I wanted to lay by your side Take this small world and open it wide I wanted to write it all down Your skin was the paper your pages unbound Lonely is just how I feel Alone in the world and the world's a wheel Spinning these thoughts in my head I tangle with you and we hang by a thread There may come a day when this dream dies Fair enough fair enough Until then we lay down our own lives Fair enough fair enough
It's never quite what it seems (The Cutting Room Floor LP)
And your face I do know well Every breath breathes Farewell It's so still No soul could tell But one day Like this The angels fell And it's never quite what it seems And it bleeds This setting sun And my arms ache From holding on Let it go This dying light Makes it hard to tell Wrong from right And it's never quite what it seems All the shadows of our doubts And the light that burns too bright Soon burns out And your face You do know well That the race is lost Hold still 'Cause the first Shall be the last Those that burn with thirst Will lift their glass And it's never quite what it seems
I will remember
(Amateur Shortwave Radio LP) I will remember Every dream about you I will remember I could not doubt you All my first impressions Of my new possession I will remember I will remember Every shadow Every shiver Every breath of borrowed air Somehow I feel now Every whisper Taken prisoner Every brush of cloud And furrowed brow I feel This last day darling Here with me (darling) All the rest is history I will remember Every sliver of you I will remember Every door we slip through Every curving hour Every dying ember I will remember There is no other Every color of our sorrow Every fallen angel's graceful bow I feel now Every broken word unspoken Every crooked line of this sad town I feel This last day darling Here with me (darling) All the rest is history Every kiss and curse Every burning thirst Every fix and flush of fire I feel right now Every sound we make Is a new prayer prayed Disappearing disappearing I hold on now Every shade of white In the thieving night That we steal to grow inspired I know right now This last day darling Here with me (darling) All the rest is history But i will remember Every dream about you I will remember I could not doubt you I will remember No other lover There is no other
Last Night On Earth Again (Discount Fireworks LP) Down south where Elvis is king And Jesus is Lord We drove just shy of forever In our wheezy old Ford Hey love, don't you think this life Has grown a little absurd? He said, Not bad for a Yankee girl Destined for Betty Ford (Oh Lord I said) Help me, it's our last night on earth again Help me, it's our last night on earth again I've been livin' this so-called life since I can't remember when Help me, it's our last night on earth again Down in Texas where guns and guitars Are the friends a man loves best You might feel like your spinning wheels Are truly headed West Someone said the best we can hope for Is to make a beautiful mess I put my soul up for sale And the whole world asked, Could you take any less? Help me, it's our last night on earth again Help me, it's our last night on earth again I told Jesus he could have my heart He said, What kinda shape's it in? Help me, it's our last night on earth again Down South where Elvis is king And Jesus is Lord We played our songs in a field Where they found a Civil War sword I was singin' Amazing Grace And someone yelled, Freebird I strummed and smiled to myself and said, Honey, it's a bitch to be ignored Help me, it's our last night on earth again Help me, it's our last night on earth again I've been wonderin' my whole life, How's this goin' to end? Help me, it's our last night on earth again
Moondance ( Van Morrison Cover / Live from nowhere vol.1 ) Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance With the stars up above in your eyes A fantabulous night to make romance 'Neath the cover of December skies And all the leaves on the trees are falling To the sound of the breezes that blow And I'm trying to please to the calling Of your heart-strings that play soft and low And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush Can I just have one more Moondance with you, my love Can I just make some more romance with you, my love Well, I wanna make love to you tonight I can't wait 'til the morning has come And I know that the time is just right And straight into my arms you will run And when you come my heart will be waiting To make sure that you're never alone There and then all my dreams will come true, dear There and then I will make you my own And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside And I know how much you want me that you can't hide...
Motherless child ( American Negro Spirituals / Live From Nowhere Volume 3 ) Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Sometimes I feel like a motherless child A long ways from home Sometimes I wish I could fly like a bird up in the sky Sometimes I wish I could fly like a bird up in the sky Sometimes I wish I could fly like a bird up in the sky But I'm a long way from home Sometimes I feel like a change is gonna come Sometimes I feel like a change oh, oh, like a change Oh sometimes I feel, oh like a change is gonna come But we're a long way from home
Orphan Girl ( Emmylou Harris cover / Live from nowhere vol.2 ) I am a orphan On God's highway But I'll share my troubles If you go my way I have no mother No father No sister No brother I am an orphan girl I have had friendships Pure and golden But the ties of kinship I have not known them I know no mother No father No sister No brother I am an orphan girl But when he calls me I will be Able To meet my family At God's table I'll meet my mother My father My sister Oh my brother No more an orphan girl Blessed savior Make me willing And walk beside me until I'm with them Be my mother My father My sister Oh my brother I am an orphan girl I am an orphan girl
Paper moon
( H. Arlen / Live from nowhere vol.1 )
Said it's only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me Yes it's only a canvas sky Hanging over a muslin tree But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me Without your love It's a hunky tonk parade Without your love It's a melody played In a penny arcade It's a Barnum and Bailey world Just as phony as it can be But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me Said it's only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me Yes it's only a canvas sky Hanging over a muslin tree But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me Without your love It's a hunky tonk parade Without your love It's a melody played In a penny arcade It's a Barnum and Bailey world Just as phony as it can be But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me It's phony it's plain to see How happy I would be If you believed in me
Ruby Tuesday
(The Rolling Stones / Amateur Shortwave Radio LP) She would never say where she came from Yesterday don't matter if it's gone While the sun is bright Or in the darkest night No one knows She comes and goes Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday Who could hang a name on you When you change with every new day Still I'm gonna miss you Don't question why she needs to be so free She'll tell you it's the only way to be She just can't be chained To a life where nothing's gained And nothing's lost At such a cost Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday Who could hang a name on you When you change with every new day Still I'm gonna miss you There's no time to lose, I heard her say Catch your dreams before they slip away Dying all the time Lose your dreams And you may lose your mind Ain't life unkind Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday Who could hang a name on you When you change with every new day Still I'm gonna miss you Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday Who could hang a name on you When you change with every new day Still I'm gonna miss you
Son Of A Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield Cover / Live From Nowhere Volume One) Billy-Ray was a preacher's son And when his daddy would visit he'd come along When they gathered round and started talkin' Thats when Billy would take me walkin' Through the back yard we'd go walkin' Then he'd look into my eyes Lord knows to my surprise The only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, ohh, yes he was Being good isn't always easy No matter how hard I try When he started sweet-talkin' to me He'd come and tell me everything is alright He'd kiss and tell me everything is alright Can I get away again tonight? The only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, ohh, yes he was How well I remember The look that was in his eyes Stealin' kisses from me on the sly Takin' time to make time Tellin' me that he's all mine Learnin' from each others knowing Lookin' to see how much we've grown And the only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, oh, yes he was (The only one who could ever reach me) He was the sweet-talking son of a preacher man (The only one who could ever teach me) I guessed he was the son of a preacher man (The only one who could ever reach me) Sweet-lovin' son of a preacher man (The only one who could ever teach me) Sweet-lovin' son of a preacher man Yes, he was, he was, oh
Spinning (The Cutting Room Floor LP)
My head's spinning like a broken record player Come and drop the needle, drop it down up there Steal me from this jaded God-forsaken place Write some new lines on my face I need you my love to come and sing for me A brand new revolutionary melody I am ready now to throw away the rules We're all beggars, tramps and fools
The Poopsmith Song (For The Kids Three! LP) Not on your arm Not on your leg Not in the toast Not in the eggs Not on the carpet Nor the linoleum Just how'd your little brother get it smeared all over him Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Not on your brother not on your sis not on any family member, you might wanna make a list not on the plants not in your hair not on the porch no, we do not want to share Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Not on the swing not on the slide not while we're spinnin' on a carnival ride not on the window not on the wall no more surprises on the light switch down the hall hey! Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty Not in the yard you're on your honor don't go gettin' no ideas from the neighbors weimereiner Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty...
Toledo
(The Cutting Room Floor LP) As the salt on your skin Heals the wounds Rub it in, rub it in 'Til I see tumbleweeds Blowing through my head like Toledo, Ohio Are we blessed Are we cursed Are we messed-up or worse Either or neither nor We're tumbleweeds What are we mumbling What are we mumbling for What are we tumbling What are we tumbling toward Oh take me I can do it for you babe Oh take me One way or another Are we dead or alive Driving I-75 Hard to say either way Tumbleweeds Blowing through my head like Toledo, Ohio Pretty eyes pretty lips Pretty thighs pretty hips Pretty hip We will feed tumbleweeds What are we waiting What are we waiting for Oh take me I can do it for you babe Oh take me One way or another When you have no destination in your head Any road will take you there I don't care where It's not about arriving Does it even matter one way or another Rust is just a slow form of fire In my tail lights Oh take me I can do it for you babe Oh take me One way or another One way or another One way or another As the salt on your skin Heals the wounds Rub it in, rub it in 'Til I see tumbleweeds Blowing through my head like Toledo, Ohio Toledo, Ohio