Just click HERE to go the second part of the Cowboy Junkies Lyrics.

Whites off earth now !!

Shining moon

Don't the moon look pretty
Shining down through the trees
Don't that shining moon look pretty, baby
Shining down through the trees
You know I can see my baby
When he can't see me

Yeah, I tiptoe to his window
Just to see my baby snore
I tiptoe to his window
Just to see how sweetie snores
You know it makes me feel like jumping, lord, lord
Through the keyhole in his door

Come crawl up to your window
Let me whisper in your ear
Come on and crawl up to your window, darling
Let me whisper in your ear
You know, I got somthing to tell you, baby
I don't want that girl around here
...keep her away

State trooper

New Jersey Turnpike
Riding on a wet night
'neath the refinery's glow
Down where the great black river flow

Licence, registration:
I ain't got none
But I got a clear conscience
'bout the things that I done

Mister State Trooper
Please don't stop me
Please don't stop me
Please don't stop me

Maybe you got a kid
Maybe you got a pretty wife
The only thing that I got's
Been bugging me my whole life

Mister State Trooper
Please don't stop me
Please don't stop me
Please don't ya stop me

Well, in the wee wee hours
Your mind gets hazy
Radio relay towers
Gonna lead me to my baby

Radio's jammed up
with talk show stations
It's just talk, talk, talk, talk
'til you lose your patience

Mister State Trooper
Please don't stop me
Please don't stop me
Please don't ya stop me

Hey, somebody out there
Listen to my last prayer,
Heigh-ho Silver oh,
Deliver me from nowhere

Me and the devil

Early this morning, he knocked on my door
Early this morning he knocked on my door
I said "Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go"

Me and The Devil are walkin' side by side
Me and The Devil are walkin' side by side
Well, I'm goin' to beat my man until I get satisfied

He says I don't do him right
That I dog him around
Well, babe, you know you ain't treating me right
He says I don't do him right
that I dog him around
Well, it must be this old evil spirit
So deep down within the ground

You may bury my body down by the highway side
...oh, babe I don't care what you do with my body
You may bury my body down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

Early this morning, he knocked on my door
Now me and The Devil are walking side by side
Side by side

Decoration day

I had a man, who's good and kind in his way
Yeah I had a man, sweet and kind in his way
Lord, he died and he left me
and I sing the blues on every decoration day

Lord I was standing, standing 'round my baby's bed
Well, my Lord, my lord he take my baby away
Why, why, why, why
when your soul don't come back
Lord, I hung my head and cried

Said, now baby please please don't worry
Said, now baby please please don't worry
'cause everybody's gotta go
Why, why, why, why
The best man, God knows, I ever had

All day, that Sunday
I just hung my head and cried
So sad, that Sunday
When my Lord he take my baby
Why, why, why, why
I need my baby on some old lonesome day
and I sing the blues on every decoration day
on every decoration day

Baby please don't go

Now, baby, please don't go
Now, baby, please don't go
Now, baby, please don't go back to New Orleans
You know I love you so, you know I love you so

You got me waiting here
You got me waiting here
Before a ...
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go

Don't you call my name
Don't you call my name

Well you got me way down here
On a ball and chain
Oh, baby, please don't go
Oh, baby, please don't go

Now, baby, please don't go
Now, baby, please don't go
Now, baby, please don't go back to New Orleans
You know I love you so, you know I love you so
...no, don't go

I'll never get out of these blues alive

I'll never get out of these blues alive
No, I'll never, I'll never get out of these blues alive
Well he gone and left me
I don't know what I'll do the rest of my life

Drinking black coffee and smoking cigarettes
Drinking black coffee, yeah, and smoking cigarettes
I can't see no use to try

I'll never get out of these blues alive
No, I'll never, I'll never get out of these blues alive
He gone and left me
Says he'll never come back home

I'll never come out of these blues alive
No, I'll never, I'll never come out of these blues alive
He gone and left me
I don't know what I'll do the rest of my life

Working up a sweat all night long and jumping over my bed
(___) sweat all night long and jumping over my bed
I can't see no use to try

Well, I'll never, never come out of these blues alive
I'll never, never come out of these, out of these blues alive
You know I miss him
(___) to the day I die

Take me

Take me to the river
and we'll watch the water roll
Take me in your warmth
and you'll fill my empty soul

Come on and take me, take me, take me
Come on and take me, take me, take me

Take me to the ocean
where the water never run
Take me in your love
and I'll be your lifetime friend

Come on and take me, take me, take me
Come on and take me, take me, take me

Take me to the storm
where the thunder meets the light
Take me in your gentle arms
and I'll love you through the night

Come on and take me, take me, take me
Come on and take me, take me, take me

Forgive me

They tell me God forgives you for almost anything you do
They tell me God forgives you for almost anything you do
Well, if that's the case, that's the case
I think I'm going to kill that man
Then drop down on my knees

Well, this morning, God knows, that man he comes a-waltzing in
Just waltzing in
Well, I got my shotgun, I broke down
I started to mow that man down

Yeah, they tell me God forgives you
If that's the case now, people
I'm gonna mow my baby down

You don't put yourself out, you don't put yourself out
You don't treat Margo right, you don't treat Margo right
Now darling, there come a time
You're gonna need my love again

They tell me God forgives me for almost anything you do

You don't seem to understand
I've got your life right in my hands

Yeah, they tell me God forgives you for almost anything you do
Anything you do
Well, if that's the case, that's the case
I think I'm going to kill that man
Then drop down on my knees

This morning, God knows, that man he comes waltzing in
Just waltzing in
Well, I grabbed my shotgun, I broke down
I started to mow that man down

Yeah, they tell me God forgives you for almost anything you do
If that's the case now, people
I'm gonna mow my baby down
I'm gonna mow my baby down
I'm gonna shoot that man

You don't put yourself out, you don't put yourself out
You don't treat Margo right, you don't treat your baby right
Now darling, there come a time
You're gonna need my love again

Yeah, they tell me God forgives you for almost anything
Anything you do

Crossroads

I went to the crossroads
fell down on my knee
I asked the Lord above me for mercy
"Save Bob, if you please"

Standing, standing on the crossroad
Yeah, I try to flag a ride
Don't nobody seem to know me
just everybody passing me by

I went down to the crossroads
fell down on my knee
I asked the Lord above me for mercy
"Save Bob, if you please"

Standing, standing on the crossroad
I try to flag a ride
Don't nobody seem to know me
just everybody passing me by

I'm standing on the crossroad, baby
Yeah, I think I'm sinking down
Sinking, sinking down

Trinity Session

Mining For Gold

We are miners, hard rock miners
To the shaft house we must go
Pour your bottles on our shoulders
We are marching to the slow

On the line boys, on the line boys
Drill your holes and stand in line
'til the shift boss comes to tell you
You must drill her out on top

Can't you feel the rock dust in your lungs?
It'll cut down a miner when he is still young
Two years and the silicosis takes hold
and I feel like I'm dying from mining for gold

Yes, I feel like I'm dying from mining for gold

Misguided Angel

I said "Mama, he's crazy and he scares me
But I want him by my side
though he's wild and he's bad
and sometimes just plain mad
I need him to keep me satisfied"

I said "Papa, don't cry cause it's alright
And I see you in some of his ways
Though he might not give me the life that you wanted
I'll love him the rest of my days"

Misguided angel hangin' over me
Heart like a Gabriel, pure and white as ivory
Soul like a Lucifer, black and cold like a piece of lead
Misguided angel, love you 'til I'm dead

I said "Brother, you speak to me of passion
You said never to settle for nothing less
Well, it's in the way he walks,
it's in the way he talks
His smile, his anger and his kisses"

I said "Sister, don't you understand?
He's all I ever wanted in a man
I'm tired of sittin' around the T.V. every night
Hoping I'm finding a Mr. Right"

Misguided angel hangin' over me
Heart like a Gabriel, pure and white as ivory
Soul like a Lucifer
Black and cold like a piece of lead
Misguided angel, love you 'til I'm dead

He says "Baby, don't listen to what they say
There comes a time when you have to break away"
He says "Baby there are things we all cling to all our life
It's time to let them go and become my wife"

Misguided angel hangin' over me
Heart like a Gabriel, pure and white as ivory
Soul like a Lucifer
Black and cold like a piece of lead
Misguided angel, love you 'til I'm dead

Blue Moon Revisited

I only want to say
That if there is a way
I want my baby back with me
'cause he's my true love
my only one don't you see?

And on that fateful day
Perhaps in the new sun of May
My baby walks back into my arms
I'll keep him beside me
forever from harm

You see I was afraid
to let my baby stray
I kept him too tightly by my side
and then one sad day
he went away and he died

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
without a dream in my heart
without a love of my own
Blue Moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
someone I really could care for

I only want to say
That if there is a way
I want my baby back with me
'cause he's my true love
my only one don't you see?

I don't get it

Breaking away to the other side
I wanna make sense of why we live and die
I don't get it, I don't get it

I ask my friends if they understand
They just laugh at me and watch another band
They don't worry, they don't worry

Lookin' for a way to lose my load
I wanna make it easy to walk this road
I can't find it, yeah I can't find it

Yeah, I'm looking for answers in so many places
I open my mind
I don't get it

Walkin' this earth and keepin' my peace
I do what I want but the price is steep
It don't seem right, it don't seem right

My mama she told me "One step at a time
and sooner or later you'll walk that line"
I don't want to, I don't want to

Takin' my time to live and die
I wanna find a way to do it right
and I ease on, and I ease on

They say "One thing always leads to another"
I open my mind
I don't get it

Breaking away to the other side
I wanna make sense of why we live and die
I don't get it, I don't get it
I don't get it, I don't get it
I don't get it

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
His song's too blue to fly
The midnight train is a-winding low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time keeps crawling by
The moon is gone behind the clouds
To hide his face and cry

Have you ever seen a robin weep
When leaves have turned to brown?
Like me he's lost his will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple haze
and as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

To Love is To Bury

I buried him down by the river
'cause that's where he liked to be
and every night when the moon is high
I go there and weep openly

He and I were married
By this river 'neath this willow tree
and with God and friends witnessing it
He pledged his life to me

To me he was Earth
and I rooted in his soil
I to he was Sky vast and free
of the burdens from which he toiled

Then one night a terrible fight
Words spoken better left unsaid
With his wedding vows ringing in my ears
He gave his life to me

They say to love is to bury
Those demons from which we all hide
But tonight by this river 'neath this willow tree
Becoming one of Earth and Sky

200 More miles

Atlanta's a distant memory
Montgomery a recent birth
and Tulsa burns on the desert floor
like a signal fire

I got Willie on the radio
a dozen things on my mind
and number one is fleshing out
these dreams of mine

I've got 200 more miles of rain asphalt in line
before I sleep
But there'll be no warm sheets or welcoming arms
to fall into tonight

In Nashville there is a lighter
in a case for all to see
it speaks of dreams and heartaches
left unsung

And in the corner stands a guitar and
lonesome words scrawled in a drunken hand
I don't travel past, travel hard before
and I'm beginning to understand

That I've got 200 more miles of rain asphalt in line
before I sleep
But there'll be no warm sheets or welcoming arms
to fall into tonight

They say that I am crazy
my life wasting on this road
that time will find my dreams
scared or dead and cold

But I heard there is a light
drawing me to reach an end
and when I reach there, I'll turn back
and you and I can begin again

I've got 200 more miles of rain asphalt in line
before I sleep
But there'll be no warm sheets or welcoming arms
to fall into tonight

I've got 200 more miles of rain asphalt in line
before I sleep
But I wouldn't trade all your golden tomorrows
for one hour of this night

Atlanta's a distant memory
Montgomery a recent birth
and Tulsa burns on the desert floor
like a signal fire

Dreaming My Dreams With You

I hope that I find what I'm reaching for
The way that it is in my mind
I hope that I won't be that wrong anymore
and maybe to have learned this time

Someday I'll get over you
I'll live to see it all through
But I'll always miss
Dreaming my dreams with you

But I won't let it change me, not if I can
I'd rather believe in love
and give it away as much as I can
To those that I am fondest of

Someday I'll get over you
I'll live to see it all through
But I'll always miss
Dreaming my dreams with you

Someday I'll get over you
I'll miss dreaming with you
Someday I'll get over you
I'll miss dreaming with you
Someday

Working on a Building

Working on a building, a Holy Ghost building
For my Lord, for my Lord
If I was a drunkard I tell you what I'd do
I would quit my drinking and work on that building too

Working on a building, a Holy Ghost building
For my Lord, yeah for my Lord
If I was a liar I tell you what I'd do
I would quit my lying and work on that building too

Working on a building, it's a Holy Ghost building
For my Lord, yeah for my Lord

Working on a building, it's a Holy Ghost building
For my Lord, yeah for my Lord
If I was a singer I tell you what I'd do
I would keep on singing and work on that building too

Sweet Jane

Anyone who's ever had a heart
Wouldn't turn around and break it
and anyone who's ever played a part
Wouldn't turn around and hate it
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

You're waiting for Jimmy down in the alley
Waiting there for him to come back home
Waiting down on the corner
and thinking of ways to get back home
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Anyone who's ever had a dream
Anyone who's ever played a part
Anyone who's ever been lonely
and anyone who's ever split apart
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Heavenly widened roses
seem to whisper to me when you smile
Heavenly widened roses
seem to whisper to me when you smile

La la la la, la la la, etc...

Sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Postcard blues

Especially with my head pounding
and lying helpless in my bed
I long for you and your expert hands
To ease this white heat from my head

And you would boast that you knew
All the pressure points inside
And you could just as easily kill me
Beneath the desire that I hide

But as your patient I knew
That your healing powers had grown
From a sore that's far far deeper
Than this heart where the pain was born

With my head again clear
I think of words to send to you
To coax you back to my side
But always leave out "I love you"

And then through my front door
A picture of a faraway land
And to with love on the back
And once again I reach for my pen

*** Thanx to John who updated this one ***

Walking after midnight

I was walking after midnight
Yeah, out in the moonlight
The way we used to do
I'm always walking after midnight
Searching for you
I'm always walking after midnight
Searching for you

I stop to see a weeping willow
Crying on his pillow
Maybe he's a-crying for me
and as the skys turn gloomy
The night winds whisper to me
I'm lonesome as I can be
I'm always walking after midnight
Searching for you

I walk for miles along the highway
Well that's just my way
of saying "I love you"
I'm always walking after midnight
Searching for you
I walk for miles along the highway
Searching for you

I'm always walking after midnight
Yeah, out in the moonlight
Hoping you may be
Somewhere a-walking after midnight
Searching for me
I'm always walking after midnight
Searching for you



The Caution Horses

Sun comes up, it's tuesday morning

Sun comes up, it's Tuesday morning
hits me straight in the eye
guess you forgot to close the blind last night
Oh, that's right, I forgot, it was me

I sure do miss the smell of black coffee in the morning,
the sound of water splashing all over the bathroom,
the kiss that you would give me even though I was sleeping,
but I kind of like the feel of this extra few feet in my bed
Telephone's ringing, but I don't answer it
'cause everybody knows that good news always sleeps till noon

Guess it's tea and toast for breakfast again
maybe I'll add a little T.V. too
No milk! God, how I hate that
Guess I'll go to the corner, get breakfast from Jenny
She's got a black eye this morning, `Jen how'd ya get it?'
she says, `Last night, Bobby got a little bit out of hand'

Lunchtime. I start to dial your number
then I remember so I reach for something to smoke
and anyways I'd rather listen to Coltrane
than go through all that shit again

There's something about an afternoon spent doing nothing
Just listening to records and watching the sun falling
Thinking of things that don't have to add up to something
and this spell won't be broken
by the sound of keys scraping in the lock

Maybe tonight it's a movie
with plenty of room for elbows and knees
a bag of popcorn all to myself,
black and white with a strong female lead
and if I don't like it, no debate, I'll leave

Here comes that feeling that I'd forgotten
how strange these streets feel
when you're alone on them
Each pair of eyes just filled with suggestion
So I lower my head, make a beeline for home
Seething inside

Funny, I'd never noticed
the sound the streetcars make as they pass my window
Which reminds me that I forgot to close the blind again
Yeah, sure I'll admit there are times when I miss you
Especially like now when I need someone to hold me
but there are some things that can never be forgiven
and I just gotta tell you
that I kinda like this extra few feet in my bed

'Cause cheap is how I feel

It's the kind of night that's so cold, when you spit
it freezes before it hits the ground
And when a bum asks you for a quarter, you give a dollar
if he's out tonight he must be truly down
And I'm searching all the windows for a last minute present
to prove to you that what I said was real,
for something small and frail and plastic, baby,
'cause cheap is how I feel

Half moon in the sky tonight, bright enough
to come up with an answer
to the question why is it that every time I see you
my love grows a little stronger
But your memory leaves my stomach churning,
feeling like a lie about to be revealed,
but I'll horde all this to myself
'cause cheap is how I feel

It's not the smell in here that gets to me it's the lights
I hate the shadows that they cast,
and the sound of clinking bottles is the one sure thing
I'll always drag with me from my past
I think I'll find a pair of eyes tonight, to fall into
and maybe strike a deal
Your body for my soul, fair swap
`cause cheap is how I feel

Thirty summers

Caught in the vice of heaven and earth
he turned his life into a cell
imprisoned by the doubts which hound us all
and those desires which we all know so well
His days he lost to promises, his nights he purged of dreams
and he would wake in the hours before sunrise
and dread the coming of the day

Never thought a man could become so desperate
never thought a life could lose so much hope
to be tearing at the roots around you
as if in manacles, or irons, or ropes
They say he told his children that all he taught was lost
that love and pride and honesty
were to be gained at too high a cost

It's been thirty summers that I've spent with him
and I expect thirty more to pass
he has blessed my life in so many ways
that I could never turn my back
But I need just one more reminder
of the man that he used to be
if he would just look deep into my eyes
and say it's in you my love that I will find the key

Mariner's song

The last of man's great unchained beasts lies lapping at my door
The last of man's great unchained beasts lies lapping at my door
I would give it what it wants, but I do know,
it would just ask for more

I search for you with every crest I ride
in every trough I travel through
I search for you in every trough I travel through

I didn't mean to leave you,
I unfurled my sail and the wind did blow
I didn't mean to leave you, darling,
I unfurled my sail and the wind did blow
Why why why why why, oh why I did not drop my anchor,
Oh Lord, I will never know

I search for you with every crest I ride
in every trough I travel through
I search for you in every trough I travel through

On the lee of the island I hear your voice deep inside the calm
On the lee of the island I hear your voice deep inside the calm
Whispering baby, I'll be your delight, if you promise
to be my red sky tonight

I search for you with every crest I ride
in every trough I travel through
I search for you in every trough I travel through

In the storm you are my destination, in the port you are my storm
In the storm you are my destination, in the port you are my storm
But I would weather you my love, if you would be my guide,
if you would be my stars in the sky tonight

I search for you with every crest I ride
in every trough I travel through
I search for you in every trough I travel through

Powderfinger

Look out, Mama, there's a white boat coming up the river,
with a big red beacon and a flag and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John
'cause it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun,
and it's making big waves

Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains
Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy Lou
So the powers that be left me here to do all the thinking
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wondering what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassuring
He told me, 'Red means run, Son, numbers add up to nothing'
But when that first shot hit the dock, I saw it coming
Raised the rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black and my face flash in the sky

Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Just think of me as one you never figured,
to fade away so young
with so much left undone
Remember me to my love
I know I'll miss her

Where are you tonight ?

There's a young man in the corner playing 'Crazy' all night long
quarters piled high upon the table
He orders Wild Turkey and with a quick wit and a smile
he says, 'My darling, you're the one I'll drape in sable'
But his baseball cap and this bar-room rap
tell me a different story
that this is not my prince to grant all my wishes
Just another lonely country-boy grown weary of the night
Just another boy with a sink full of dirty dishes

Where are you tonight?
When I left you in my dreams last night
you promised me that we would be breaking free
Where are you tonight?

He tells me of the back roads
and how we'll drive them all night long
how the days will fade and the moon will hang forever
and how the cloud of dust we'll kick up will linger like a song
and the myth will grow about the two who refused to surrender

Then I catch us in the bar-room mirror
with his arm around my shoulder
this girl I see has grown so unfamiliar
and as she stands to leave with a stranger by her side
she can't help but laugh at a life grown so peculiar

Where are you tonight?
I don't think I can face tomorrow's light
not knowing if you'll be there to guide me
Where are you tonight?

Where are you tonight?
I think that I'll make it through all right,
but I'd love to have you just one more time beside me

Witches

There are witches in the hills calling my name
saying come join us sister, come kiss the flame
Come dance in the moonbeams, ride the night wind
make love to the darkness and laugh at man's sins

I shiver with delight, I shiver with fear
my heart wants to go but my soul's filled with fear
So I turn to my lover and ask what do I do
do I answer their call or stay here with you

But under spell of deep sleep he moans and turns away
taking his protection and my desire to stay
So I rise to the hill tops, I ride the night winds
I make love to the darkness and laugh at man's sins

Rock and bird

She captured both Rock and Bird
tied one to the leg of the other
kept them as prisoners
until they knew who was master
then she threw them to the sky

Bird with unbarred wings disappeared
Rock with weighted heart returned
and Rock became her anchor
and Bird became her dream

Now she stands on the forest floor
among the pines and towering firs
Rock still firm beneath her feet
Bird perched high above her
singing songs of love's betrayal

'I offered you my endless skies
you countered with hoods and chains
this song I sing will be the last
to be inspired by your memory'

Escape is so simple

The way you kissed me this morning
it told me that you soon would be going
You didn't even look in my eyes
when you said goodbye

And last night in your sleep you broke all the promises
that I knew you would never keep
Now I'm reading the letter which you placed on the dresser
and you're five hundred miles down the road

Escape is so simple
in a world where sunsets can be raced
But distance only looses the knife
the pattern of its scar
can always be traced

Yeah, I remember when we said 'forever'
was the craziest word that we knew
but I think that I like it much better than I do 'goodbye'

And I could sit here all evening and think of the reasons
why you are not by my side
Instead I'll go to the kitchen, find a strong chair to sit in
and drink myself far, far away

Escape is so simple
in a world where sunsets can be raced
But distance only looses the knife
the pattern of its scar
can always be traced

You will be loved again

How could he take you in his arms
And help you to be free
Then leave you forgotten
And is it enough to cry
When you're so broken...

Her cold eyes tell you you're not welcome
She tells lies but you'll take her back again
And is it enough to die
When you're so taken

You will be loved again
You will be loved again

But will she sing and will she dance
And will she forever
And will he sing and will he dance
And will he forever

Someday you will feel a love so deep
And you'll find someone not lost in sleep

And you will be loved again
you will be loved again
you will be loved again

Black Eyed Man

Southern rain

The flies have quit their buzzing
Even Bear has stopped his barking
They all sense something brewing
up the James and headed this way

Bobby sips his morning coffee
Says `Have you finished with the funnies
Looks like a storm's coming honey
guess we'll have to stay in bed today'

I've heard that into every life
a little of it must fall
If there's any truth to the saying,
Lord, let it be a southern rain

Marie was born in Macon, Georgia
She met a west coast lawyer
He plucked that sweet magnolia
and carried her to the hills of West L.A.

She says `I never thought I'd tire of a dollar
But this life has grown so hollow
Every night there's lipstick on his collar
and every morning I wash it away'

She heard that into every life
a little of it must fall
So she spends her evenings praying
for a little of that southern rain

Cars alive on city streets
of sparkling black water
like waves beneath my window
never break just roll away
Tonight, this rain will be my lullaby
these cars, my dreams
to carry me home to stay

The wipers beat a rhythm
Truck spray obscures my vision
But I'm closing in on my destination
Two more hours and I'll be at your door

And it will never cease to amaze me
how a little rain can drive folks crazy
When I'd trade all my blue skies gladly
for your blue eyes, crooked smile
and a steady downpour

I've heard that into every life
a little of it must fall,
but you'll never catch me complaining
about too much of that southern rain

Oregon hill

The hoods are up on Pine Street,
rear ends lifted too
The great-grandsons of General Robert E. Lee
are making love with a little help from STP
Their women on the porches comparing alibis

Greasy eggs and bacon,
bumper stickers aimed to start a fight,
full gun racks, Confederate caps,
if you want some 'shine
well, you can always find some more,
but what I remember most is the colour of Suzy's door

And Suzy says she's up there
cutting carrots still
And Suzy says she's missing me
so I'm missing Oregon Hill

A river to the south
to wash away all sins
A college to the east of us
to learn where sin begins
A graveyard to the west of it all
which I may soon be lying in

'Cause to the north there is a prison
which I've come to call my home,
but some Monday morning no country song
will sing me home again

And Suzy says she's up there
cutting carrots still
And Suzy says she's missing me
so I'm missing Oregon Hill

Sunday morning, eight A.M.,
sirens fill the air
Sounds like someone made the river
Sounds like someone being born again
Me, I'm just lying here in Suzy's bed

Baptists celebrating with praises to the Lord,
rednecks doing it with gin
Me and Suzy, we're celebrating
the joy of sleeping in
because tomorrow I'll be home again

But Suzy says she'll wait there
cutting carrots by the window sill
And Suzy says, 'Always think of me
when you think of Oregon Hill'

This street, that man, this life

This street holds its secrets like a cobra holds its kill
This street minds its business like a jailer minds his jail
That house there is haunted
That door's a portal to hell
This street holds its secrets very well

That man wears his skin like a dancer wears her veils
That man stalks his victims like a cancer stalks a cell
That man's soul has left him his heart's as deadly as a rusty nail
That man sheds his skin like a veil

Lord, you play a hard game, you know we follow every rule
Then you take the one thing we thought we'd never lose
All I ask is if she's with you please keep her warm and safe
and if it's in your power please purge the memory of this place

This life holds its secrets like a sea shell holds the sea,
soft and distant calling like a fading memory
This life has its victories but its defeats tear so viciously
This life holds its secrets like the sea

A horse in the country

The money would be pretty good
if a quart of milk were still a dollar
or even if a quart of milk were still a quart
And the hours, well, I don't mind
how they creep on by like an old love of mine
it's the years that simply disappear that are doing me in

Guess I married too young,
yeah, nineteen was just too young,
but sometimes you meet someone
and your guts just burn
It's not that I don't love him anymore
it's just that when I hear him
coming through that front door
my heart doesn't race like it did once before

But I've got a horse out in the country
I get to see him every second Sunday
He comes when I call him,
yeah, he knows his name
One day I'll saddle up
and the two of us will ride away

This weather I could almost stand
if the sun would shine a little brighter
or even if the sun would shine at all
But lately it just seems to me
that this life has lost its mystery
and these cold fall mornings seem to bite
just a little bit harder

And all my friends have settled down
become their mothers and their fathers
without a sound
Except for Cathy,
she bought a one-way subway ticket
and left us all behind

But I've got a horse out in the country
I get to see him every second Sunday
He comes when I call him,
yeah, he knows his name
One day I'll saddle up
and the two of us will ride away

This town wouldn't be so bad
if a girl could trust her instincts
or even if a girl could trust a boy

If you were the woman and i was the man

If you were the woman and I was the man
would I send you yellow roses
would I dare to kiss your hand?
In the morning would I caress you
as the wind caresses the sand,
if you were the woman and I was the man?

If I was the heart and you were the head
would you think me very foolish
if one day I decided to shed
these walls that surround me
just to see where these feelings led,
if I was the heart and you were the head?

If I was the woman and you were the man
would I laugh if you came to me
with your heart in your hand
and said, 'I offer you this freely
and will give you all that I can
because you are the woman
and I am the man?'

Murder, tonight, in the trailer park

Murder tonight in the trailer park
Mrs. Annabelle Evans found
with her throat cut after dark
Her pockets turned inside out
her dresser drawers turned upside down
Anna's neighbour, Peg, identifies the body
lets out a hollow kind of sound

Homicide is tying yellow ribbons
around her silver Airstream
Red cherries slashing up the night
cutting through that cordoned crime scene
There's been a murder
in the trailer park tonight

Murder tonight in the trailer park
Pack your things Ann Marie,
we're heading west
we're going to make a fresh start
I've been saving pennies,
been looking forward to this day
No time for questions are you coming
or are you going to stay?

Crosstown at the Waterton
George Evans is sitting tall and tight,
buying drinks for all the regulars
bragging about how them bones
danced for him tonight
There's been a murder
in the trailer park tonight

Murder tonight in the trailer park
Faceless man counting crumpled bills,
hotel neon fights the dark
TV set in the corner, they're talking murder
on the late-night news
He turns down the sound,
waits for the sports,
he only wants to know,
'Did I win or did I lose'

There's been a murder
in the trailer park tonight
Murder tonight in the trailer park

Black eyed man

Black eyed man he took the blame
for the poisoning of the well
They found this shoes by the pulley
They found his fingerprints all over the pail

Black eyed man I'm warning you
the people around here
will not be fooled by a simple line or two

Yes your honour I do solemnly swear
that I saw him late last night,
dancing barefoot, bathed in light
and reaching for every star in sight
Yes I did go to him,
but completely against my will
and yes he did things to me
things of which I dream of still

Black eyed man I'm warning you
what I say is what you'll do
to hell with love and truth

I always meant to say I'm sorry
for all the things I said and did
'Sorry,' I feel better now, do you?
But you promised me the sky
and fell short a star or two
What else did you expect me to do?

Black eyed man he took the blame
for the poisoning of the well
They found his shoes by the pulley
They found his fingerprints all over the pail
With a noose around his neck,
cicadas trilling everywhere,
he says to the people gathered round him,
'it ain't the water that's not right around here'

Black eyed man I'm thirsty dear
be a love and bring some water here
drawn fresh from the well

Winter's song

She says, 'it's cold where you brought me'
He says, 'Darling, don't worry
you can stay in my arms
until the springtime comes
We'll let the snow drift around us
and wait for the robin and the crocus
to tell us that our love has again found the sun'

Lone oak stands tall,
bare arms scratch the sky,
dry leaves cracking beneath our feet
Hand in hand we've watched
the autumn fires burn -
Summer's dreams collapsing,
chestnuts in need of gathering,
the whole world lies rotting in the street

Soon we will walk with collars high
like ramparts raised for the siege
We'll bow to her beauty,
cower from her fury
sent as a judgement for a slight
long past forgotten
Winter's love once again unrequited
Winter's love once again unrequited

She says, 'Babe are you sleeping?'
He says, 'No, wide awake and thinking
of a dream I just had about the two of us
He takes his hand to her cheek now,
his lips to her brow,
their whispers pile softly
by the foot of the bed

The last spike

Mornings feel so damn sad these days
without the call of the 8:15
That old familiar echo
has finally died away
leaving nothing but a chill
where there once was a mighty scream

And I've watched the flat cars
take away our timber
I've watched the coal cars steal our rock
And now that we've got
nothing left to take we're told
that the wheels will stop turning,
the whistles will stop blowing,
these foolish dreams must stop

Last year they closed down the post office,
took the only flag we had in town
That old brick building
still stands like a cenotaph
to a vision lost and buried in
a very distant past

And I've watched the flat cars
take away our timber
I've watched the coal cars steal our rock
And now that we've got
nothing left to take we're told
that the wheels will stop turning,
the whistles will stop blowing,
these foolish dreams must stop

The longest train I've ever seen
was the train that you were on
I walked you to the station,
we kissed and you were gone
I dream at night about you coming home
The train in the station,
your uniform on fire
as you step onto the platform
the band plays a little louder,
and as we embrace your cap falls off
Oh, I guess these foolish dreams must stop

Mornings feel so damn sad these days
without the call of the 8:15
Looks like this town is finally
going to die away
leaving nothing but broken promises
where there once was small town dreams

And I've watched the flat cars
take away our timber
I've watched the coal cars steal our rock
And now that we've got
nothing left to take we're told
that the TV station will be closing,
Main Street windows will need boarding,
that these foolish dreams must stop

Cowboy Junkies Lament

Baby hit the back door
breathin' real heavy
said the boys in the alley
wouldn't leave her alone
Mama did her make-up in a terrible hurry
she finally got ready
but the boys were gone
Mama don't you worry,
night's approachin'
there's a hole in heaven
where some sin slips through
just close your eyes and dream real steady
maybe just a little will spill on you

Dark don't lie
Dreams come true
Could be a few will see you through

Old lady Rose, lookin' down her nose
at lonely Miss Lily hiding in the hall
Lily's just praying for the trial to be over
lady Rose just waiting for the axe to fall
Show me off on the way to town
the sky's still shiny
and the earth's still brown
Tell the judge I'm ready for the vases
gonna dance in their faces
when the guitar sounds

Won't be long
I won't be gone
Been leaning toward the shadows all along

Those in the know say so it goes
you plan on reapin', you better sow
You plan on sleepin',
you better keep movin'
sleepin' ain't allowed around here,
you know

Snake eyes cry
Boxcars sigh
Seven's stuck in the middle
just wonderin' why

Dark don't lie
Dreams come true
All it takes is one or two
Maybe just a few will see you through

Townes' blues

You're clean as a widow woman's washboard, son,
stick it in the wind
Put the mountains to your back
the great plains on your grille
time to take a little spin
Boulder looks like the type of town
that I could spend some time,
but in Houston they got our name in lights
You're clean as a widow woman's washboard, son,
the slab is yours tonight

Townes is in the back lounge
with his hands in his pocket
pulls out two dice and says, 'Let's get at it'

Salina in the headlights, snake eyes on the floor,
Al drops another twenty, Pete heads for the door,
Springer's feeling lucky, sits down for a spell,
Oklahoma City and he's lost his last bill
Jeff is in a bind waiting on sister hicks
seven comes a-calling
as we cross on into Texas

Townes is in the back lounge
with a fist full of fives
he says, 'It's a little bit long
but I'm enjoying this ride'

Be careful with the dice
when you're surrounded by others
with boxcars in their eyes
Never count your winnings at hour 23
of a 24-hour drive
Remember that you're not the one
calling the tune
that's making those diamonds dance
or you'll be clean as
a widow woman's washboard, son,
and those are the facts

Townes is in the back lounge cursing at them bones
he says, 'Ain't this fool ever heard of Raton'

To live is to fly

Won't say I love you babe
Won't say I need you babe
But I'm going to get you babe
and I will not do you wrong
Living's mostly wasting time
and I waste my share of mine
but it never feels too good
so let's not take too long
You're as soft as glass and I'm a gentle man
we got the sky to talk about
and the world to lie upon

Days up and down they come
like rain on a conga drum
forget most, remember some
but don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
nothing is too much to bear
where you been is good and gone
all you keep's the getting there
To live is to fly low and high
so shake the dust off of your wings
and the sleep out of your eyes

It's goodbye to all my friends
It's time to go again
Think of all the poetry
and the pickin' down the line
I'll miss the system here
the bottom's low and the treble's clear
but it don't pay to think too much
on the things you leave behind
I may be gone but I won't be long
I'll be bringing back the melody
and the rhythm that I find

We all got holes to fill
and them holes are all that's real
some fall on you like a storm
sometimes you dig your own
But choice is yours to make
time is yours to take
some dive into the sea
some toil upon the stone
To live is to fly low and high
so shake the dust off of your wings
the sleep out of your eyes

Pale Sun, Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon

Reach a hand to the crescent moon
grab hold of the hollow
If she sits in the palm of the left
that moon will be fuller tomorrow
If she sits in the palm of the right
that moon is on the wane
and the love of the one who shares your bed
will be doing just the same

`Won't you come with me', she said,
`there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain'

Out among the fields gently hipped
beneath the corn,
Assiniboine bones beneath the highway
he stood there and he thought of home
A finger traces the path of a satellite
You're drawn to a distant copse of trees
A voice as sweet as Mare's Tail
clings to the prairie breeze

`Won't you come with me', she said,
`there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain'

Do I reach for you
when I know you're on the wane?
Do I sense you when I know you're not around?
Do I search for you
when I know you can't be found?
Do I dare to speak your name?

Raise your eyes to a moonless sky
and try to wish upon a rising star
Search all you want for her blessing
but you won't find her sparkling there
Now cast your eyes to a part of the sky
where nothing but darkness unfolds
and watch as all around you
she reveals the brilliance of secrets untold

Won't you come with me, she said,
there's plenty of room in my iron bed
You're looking cold and tired
and more than a little human
I know I'm not part of the life you had planned,
but I think once your body feels my hand
your mind will change
and your heart will lose its pain

First Recollection

My first recollection is a day in December
black iron steam engine covered in ice
like some Precambrian monster
moaning and snorting
Nothing was ever going to beat that beast
in a fair fight

I've sat and watched the woodpiles
grow through the summer
now I'm sitting, smelling summer burn through the fall
Winter's coming on, days getting dreary
and I'm thinking this is the season
that I leave you all

I've heard a man in crisis
falls back on what he knows best,
a murderer to murder
a thief to theft
And I don't want you to think
that this is some kind of deathbed confession
but run is what I did when put to the test

My first recollection is a day in December
747 tracing lines through the sky
like some old gypsy curse
silently preying upon the dreams of those
who jealously watch life pass by

I've sat and watched my troubles
pile through the summer
now I'm sitting, hearing my youngest cry
down the hall
Winter's coming on, days getting dreary
and I'm thinking this is the season
that I leave you all

I've heard that the son must bear
the burdens of the father
but it's the daughter that is left
to clean up the mess
And I don't want you to think
that I'm asking for absolution,
but run is what I did when put to the test

Ring on the sill

She placed her ring on the sill,
dishes piled high
She's on the front porch step
and the air smells like snow
She's thinking of the siege to come
and how she'll miss those weekends
in the park with the sun on her face
and her book by her side and that
lingering taste that he left on her tongue

He lifts his glass from the table
It leaves a ring where it stood
He sees the light from the window
caress her like he knows he should
He's remembering the first time he kissed her
and how he'd wake
and immediately he'd miss her,
like a spell, with each breath,
he'd taste her breath like a haunting,
irritating as hell

Do you remember when you'd pray
to never see the day
when someone would make you feel this way
'Cause you knew
they would cut right through you
and once inside, you were afraid they'd find
nothing to hold on to

He puts her ring on her finger,
she brushes back his hair
He takes a sip from his glass,
she inhales the cold fall air
And they're thinking of the long road ahead
and the strength that they will need
just to reach the end
And there in the silence they search for
the balance between this fear that they feel
and a love that has graced their lives

Anniversary song

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful
as that of the rain-soaked purple
of the white birch in spring?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful
than on a warm fall night
under a Mackerel sky,
the smell of grapes on the wind?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And I'll share them all for a cup of coffee
and to wear your ring

Have you ever had the pleasure of watching
a quiet winter's snow slowly gathering
like simple moments adding up?

Have you ever satisfied a gut feeling
to follow a dry dirt road that's beckoning you
to the heart of a shimmering summer's day?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And I'll share them all for a cup of coffee
and to wear your ring

And I don't know how I survived those days
before I held your hand
Well I never thought that I would be the one
to admit that the moon and the sun
shine so much more brighter when
seen through two pairs of eyes than
when seen through just one

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful
as a face in a crowd of people
that lights up just for you?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful
as when you wake
by the side of that boy or girl
who has pledged their love to you?

Well I have known all these things
and the joys that they can bring
And now every morning there's a cup of coffee
and I wear your ring

White sail

Raise a white sail if you love me
a black sail if you don't
Seal me up in an impregnable tower
or surround me with an impassable moat
I've heard all the stories told about love
(unattainable and pure)
but there is one love of which I'm sure

Your fear as honed as a battle axe,
I'll bear my neck, I'll wear the scar,
and if my nerve should fail the task
I know your faith will not roam too far
I've heard all the stories told about love
(two souls into one)
but this tale of love is one we've just begun

Isoldt had her Tristan,
but love potions are not what we need,
and Paris had his Helen
but it was infatuation that was plain to see
What I desire is your trust to inspire
this love for you which grows in me

Plant a rose tree on his grave
and on mine plant a vine,
as seasons pass and markers fade
watch them slowly intertwine
I've heard all the stories told about love
(till death do us part)
but our love is a vow which has been wrought
from heart to heart

Seven Years

Haven't seen the sun for seven days
November's got her nails dug in deep
Haven't seen my son for seven years
and the chances are we'll never again meet

If truth be told I don't even know his name
If truth be told he doesn't even know my name

I spend my spare time with my rosary beads
although I never learnt to pray
but you don't need the light
and it's best to pretend
that you've seen the errors of your ways

The darkness in here
is as heavy as a judgement
This darkness, heavy as a judgement

My dreams are now filled with Gilead trees
and other sights that I've never seen
They used to be filled
with the fears of tomorrow
and the horror that it might bring

His eyes felt to me
as cold as a stone mason's chisel
His eyes fell on me, cold
like a stone mason's chisel

Strange how a mind can always recall
what the senses eagerly leave behind
I can remember his face, rage,
disgust and distaste
but to my fear I have grown blind

Memories are just dead men making trouble
this memory is just a dead man making trouble

Pale sun

Fifty miles from Dakota territory
Cheyenne scalp hangs from his belt
Found him alone washing in the Bighorn
a steady aim and he bagged his game

Pale sun falls without contest
Here is obedient darkness
He will not return

White Cadillac, white man at the wheel,
white faces on the mountain,
wounds that will never heal
Black clouds overhead, old man says
looks like rain
Thieves' Road winds to the Black Hills sign
says South Dakota, U.S.A.

Grass plains stretch to the horizon,
not a soul can be found on them
They will not return

Old rusted pickup and a mad dog in the yard,
purple paint peels but fails to reveal
the bitterness that grows inside
Cloud of dust in the distance,
strange knock beneath my hood
Is it better to have words left unsaid
than to have words misunderstood?

Pale sun falls without contest
Here is obedient darkness
It will return
I know it will return
It will return

The post

Eyed it, dried it, untied it
Chilled it, spilled it, refilled it
Taste it, traced it, erased it

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground

Eyed it, dried it, untied it
Chilled it, spilled it, refilled it
Taste it, trace it, erased it

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground

He's my post to lean on
And I just cut him down
So I'm out to land on somethin'
Hopefully a boy will come to me at the ground

Cold tea blues

If I pour your cup, that is friendship
If I add your milk, that is manners
If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
that is tea

But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy your expectant tongue
then that is love,
But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy your expectant tongue
then that is love,
sitting untouched and growing cold

Hard to explain

If it ain't one thing
I tell you it's always another
I wonder why
I started treating you like a step-brother

Love is hard to explain
I know my loss is someone else's gain

Sometime's love is like a bitter pill
But we just have to take it like it is
Sometimes life is the sweetest thing
and sometimes it's just naked pain

Oh, it's so hard to explain
I know my loss is someone else's gain

My troubles started when I found you
But that's when I (wrapped?) my world around you
And now my living ain't so easy
I thought that's what a woman was supposed to do

You see, it's so hard to explain
I know my loss is someone else's gain

I went to see my doctor
`Cause I thought I had a hole in my heart
but he said "Girl, you're just wasting my time
Because some man messed up,
went and messed up your mind"

It's so hard to explain
I know my loss is someone else's gain

Oh, love it's so hard to explain
It'll make you forget your name
It'll turn you upside down
It'll make you wish that you'd never been found

Hunted

Emma's in a part of town
where she doesn't recognize the streets
named for famous native sons
and out of every crevice comes creeping
a threat in her direction
Lucy's outside her home
heading towards her corner store
she stays on well-travelled paths
and is always making sure
that she doesn't develop patterns

There are trap lines
running up and down Main Street
wire snares thirsting for your neck and feet

Susan doesn't like the way her curtains
are blowing in the wind
She swears she locked that window
before she went out dancing
she stands frozen in her doorway
Judy hears a sound coming from the other room
she knows she should be alone
'cause the kids left at noon
to go visit their father

Quick to your phone dial 911
invite a strange man into your home
who'll be carrying a gun

Leslie's working late
she's got a deadline to meet
In walks her boss,
upon her desk he puts his feet
and says alone at last
Reanne's got a new boyfriend
and they're getting along
until he locks the door and says don't struggle,
I'm stronger than you are.

Just one question I'm dying to ask, you said,
do you know what it's like to be hunted?

Floorboard blues

Look under his floorboards, Mama,
I don't trust his silly grin
He's got a beat-up Rambler, Nebraska plates,
and I ain't getting in
I don't like the way his pinky ring
picks up the dashboard light
or his short little piggy fingers
or the way his belt is cinched too tight

Check under his floorboards, Mama,
I don't like his suggestive tone
The way his words drip from his mouth
as he asks can I take you home?
I don't care how many miles I got,
I think I'd rather walk them alone
than to sit in the back seat
as his eyes in the mirror
reduce me to flesh and bone

Check under his floorboards, Mama,
'cause that razor's not just a threat to me
He'll be slicing tiny crescents from your heart,
without laying a sweaty palm to your cheek
Don't accuse me of running scared,
listen to what I'm saying
It's a fucked up ol' world, but this ol' girl
Well, she ain't giving in

Lay it down

Something more besides you

One foot strands before the crib
the other by the casket
A question formed upon stilled lips
is passed on but never asked

I guess I believe that there's a point
to what we do
But I ask myself is there
something more besides you?

Two are born to cross
their paths, their lives, their hearts
If by chance one turns away
are they forever lost?

I guess I believe that there's a point
to what we do
But I ask myself is there
something more besides you?

This morning I awoke,
the bed warm where it once was cold
Small blessings laid upon us
Small mysteries slowly unfold

Yet I still wonder is there a point
to what we do?
'Cause I kind of doubt
that there is something more besides you

Although it's hard to find the point
to what we do,
do I dare believe that there is
something more besides you?

A common disaster

A candle burning for everything I've ever wanted
A tattoo burned for everything I've ever wanted and lost
I had a long list of names that I kept in my back pocket,
but I've cut it down to one and your name's at the top

Won't you share a common disaster?
Share with me a common disaster
A common disaster

I found myself a friend,
but he's crooked as a stick in water
So now I'm writing fairy tales
to catch the spirit of revenge
He's got a plan to steal my little sister,
but I'm not too concerned
'cause I will get him in the end

Won't you share a common disaster?
Share with me a common disaster
A common disaster

Going to find me someone to share
A common disaster
Run away with me from a life so cramped and dull
Not worry too much about the happily-ever-after
Just keep the Caddy moving
'til we're well beyond that hill

Won't you share a common disaster?
Share with me a common disaster
A common disaster

Lay it down

He left his dead in the cottonwood trees
the ground grown too hard with the years
Falling down was not what it used to be
the ground grown too hard with the years

He told his children those little white lies
the truth would only paralyze them
He told himself those little white lies
the truth would only paralyze him

Lay it down, lay it down

He sold most of what he cherished,
the rest he let them steal
Shot his dog out in the open field,
the rest he let them steal

He broke all of his promises,
under a sea green sky
They never thought to ask him why,
under a sea green sky

Lay it down, lay it down

Please bury me in the cottonwood trees
the ground grown too cold for me
Going to sleep tonight in a warm feather bed
the ground grown too cold for me

Lay it down, lay it down

Hold on to me

If you offered me a shade of blue
would I return it saying that it was too
dark or light?
Or would I see it for the precious thing
that it might one day be?
Hold on to me

If you offered me a point of view
would I dismiss it saying that it was too
black and white?
Or would I see it as the special thing
That it would no doubt be?
Hold on to me

I'll hold on to this gift we share
it is as slippery as it is rare
I'll hold on to that feeling
of waking and finding you there
I'll hold on to you and you hold on to me

If I asked you for a simple thing

Would you do it without too much thinking or fuss?
Would you see it for the precious thing
that it would surely be?
Hold on to me

Hold on to me
Hold on to me

Come calling

The stillness here,
like what he sometimes finds inside her,
hits so hard it can steal your breath forever
He sometimes wonders
is the sum of their lives together
him on the floor and her lost to a mind in tatters

These days he's drinking for the pleasure of falling
and he's falling for the pleasure of pretending
that she's sitting by the window waiting
for him to come calling

If I could fix me up a week of twilight hours
we'd sit on the point
and watch the sun continually flounder
Bathed in gold we'd plug into some kind of power
and connect with those days
back before all of this went sour

'Cause I'm drinking for the pleasure of falling
and I'm falling for the pleasure of pretending
that you're sitting by the window waiting
for me to come calling

Odd how the darkness always makes us whisper
and with the last of the sun
you can feel the approach of the winter
Now is the time of each day
that I Desperately miss her
I suppose I will learn how to live my life without her

So you're drinking for the pleasure of falling
and you're falling for the pleasure of pretending
that I'm sitting by the window waiting
for you to come calling

Just want to see

I don't want to be no patch on no quilt
(I just want to see...)
Tear-stained stitching linking memories to guilt
(I just want to see...)
I don't want to be no hair on no wall
(I just want to see...)
Blood-stained note saying fuck you all
(I just want to see what kills me)

Tommy, are you ready we better head to town
J.D.'s box is waiting to be lowered down
and you know how he hates to be kept waiting 'round

I don't want to be no chalk line drawing
(I just want to see...)
Toe-tagged question mark, until identifying
(I just want to see...)
I don't want to fuse with no economy seat
(I just want to see...)
fuel some fireball at 30,000 feet
(I just want to see what kills me)

Tommy, did you catch his face
before they closed the lid?
I swear I saw him wink once and flash me that old grin
Oh, you know, that would be just like him

I don't want to face no hollow-eyed ending
(I just want to see...)
Loved ones buried, empty days of waiting
(I just want to see what kills me)

Tommy, darling, come to bed
we'll try and sleep away this sadness
These memories, too, are bound to die
so our dreams will have to serve us
Tomorrow may be the day that our love betrays us

Lonely sinking feeling

She says, "I'm getting that lonely sinking feeling,
you know what I mean?"
With his hand on her back he's thinking,
"Where does that leave me?"
Just when I think I've uncovered the secret
to peace and tranquility
that lonely sinking feeling creeps up on me

He says, "I'm seeing those doubt filled
questioning eyes
and I can't believe it's true"
With her head in her hands she sighs,
"It's me, not you"

Just when I thought that I'd discovered the joy
of loving one so completely
that lonely sinking feeling creeps up on me

Here in this silent room we wait on ancient ritual
Staring at our hearts
as if they were two caged animals
If I am the first to unlock those rusty doors
will I be the first found bleeding on the floor?

She says, "I'm getting that lonely sinking feeling,
you know what I mean?"
With his hand on her back he's thinking,
"Where does that leave me?"

Just when I think I've uncovered the secret
to peace and tranquility
that lonely sinking feeling creeps up on me

Just when I thought that I'd discovered the joy
of loving one so completely
that lonely sinking feeling creeps up on me
that lonely sinking feeling creeps up on me

Angel mine

He searched for those wings that he knew
that this angel should have at her back
And although he can't find them
he really don't mind
because he knows they'll grow back
And he reached for that halo that he knows
that she had when she first caught his eye
Although his hand came back empty
he's really not worried
'cause he knows it still shines

I can't promise that I'll grow those wings
or keep this tarnished halo shined
but I'll never betray your trust
angel mine

I search all the time on the ground
for our shadows cast side by side
Just to remind me that I haven't gone crazy
that you exist and are mine
And I know that your skin is as warm and as real
as that smile in your eyes
But I have to keep touching and smelling
and tasting for fear it's all lies

I can't promise that I'll grow those wings
or keep this tarnished halo shined
but I'll never betray your trust
angel mine

Last night I awoke from the deepest of sleeps
with your voice in my head
And I could tell by your breathing
that you were still sleeping
I repeated those words that you had said

I can't promise that I'll grow those wings
or keep this tarnished halo shined
but I'll never betray your trust
angel mine

Bea's song

Speed River at my feet running low and flat
I'm sitting here burning daylight,
thinking about the past
and that distance out there
where the earth meets the sky
The slightest move and this river mud
pulls me further down
John's at my side, but he's sitting on firmer ground

John says I look at the moon and the stars
these days more often than I look into his eyes
and I can't disagree so I don't say nothing
I just stare on past his face at Venus rising,
like a shining speck of hope hanging over the horizon

With each passing year that I sit here
that horizon seems to inch just that much nearer
and all that appears on it seems as clear as spit
But if there's on thing in my life
that these years have taught
it's that you can always see it coming
but you can never stop it

Speed River at my feet running low and flat
I'm sitting here burning daylight,
thinking about the past
and that distance out there
where the earth meets the sky
The slightest move and this river mud
pulls me further down
John's at my side,
but he's not noticing that I'm drowning
The slightest move and this river mud
pulls me further down
John's at my side,
but he's not noticing that I'm drowning

Musical key

My mother sang the sweetest melody
although she never sang in a musical key
I'd hear her through the house
My name called out loud
My mother sang the sweetest melody

My mother's hands were always cool and soft
And like her eyes they would caress with every touch
She would listen to my chatter
as if every word I spoke mattered
She'd hold me close and whisper in my ear

She'd say, "girl you are a part of me
I have made you strong
when you grow up and are on your own
remember to win them with your song"

My father sang in perfect harmony
And though he never sang in a musical key
You could hear him when he'd enter the house
the kiss he'd give my Ma
My father sang in perfect harmony

My father's words were always sure and clear
and like his presence they would rid me of my fears
When I crawled up on his knees
I was safe as I could be
He'd hold me tight and whisper in my ear

He'd say, "girl you are a part of me
I have made you strong
when you grow up and are on your own
remember to win them with your song"

My mother sang in perfect harmony
although she never sang in a musical key

Speaking confidentially

Speaking confidentially
the fire that burnt inside of me
has turned to ash the tortured tree
that grows beside the anguished sea
Speaking confidentially

Speaking metaphorically
the earth I trust beneath my feet
is moving now ever so slightly
I shift my feet but feel no relief
Speaking metaphorically

Speaking hypothetically
if the air you breathed was so unique
would you use it up to idly speak
or horde it for a rainy week
Speaking hypothetically

Speaking kind of cryptically
the sea that raged beside the tree
burning bright for all to see
it just might mean the most to me
Speaking kind of cryptically

Now I know

Now I know, now I know what it means to be broken
Now I know, now I know what it means to be bared
You in the chair perceptibly sinking
I'm on my knees once again made aware
of the world out there
Grief is a word to describe the absense of feeling
Now I know, now I know what it means to be broken

Now I know, now I know,
now I know what it means to be broken
Now I know, now I know,
now I know what it means to be bared
You in the chair systematically sinking
I'm on my knees once again made aware
of the world out there
Grief is a word to describe the absense of feeling
Now I know, now I know,
Now I know what it means to be broken



Miles from our home

New Dawn Coming

Hold on honey, there's a new dawn coming
and a big bird to sweep you away

Are you born yet? Are you listening?
Are you sick of staring at the walls?

Are you hungry? Are you angry?
Are you wondering if there's anyone at all?

Hold on honey there's a new dawn coming
and a big bird to sweep you away
Keep on dreaming soon there'll be a reason
to see it through one more day

Are you weary? Are you sinking?
Are you tired of holding up the walls?

Are you done with all your thinking?
Have you found that there's no one at all?

Hold on honey there's a new dawn coming
and a big bird to sweep you away
Keep on dreaming soon there'll be a reason
to see it through one more day

Ain't got no answers here
What I see is not clear
Time to shake it around
Turn my world upside down
and watch as the stars come unhinged

Hold on honey there's a new dawn coming
and a big bird to sweep you away
Keep on dreaming soon there'll be a reason
to see it through one more day

Hold on honey there's a new dawn coming
and a big bird to sweep us away
Keep on dreaming soon there'll be a reason
to see it through one more day

Are you born yet?
Are you born yet?

Blue Guitar

I wish I had a blue guitar,
A blue guitar to play all night long.
Singing songs of loss and love.
Singing songs till morning comes.

Ghosts in the basement
Screams from the kitchen
I tell you folks I'm leaving.
Seems I can already hear the door slammin'.
I tell you folks I think I'm leavin'.

Goodbye to the highway
Goodbye to the sky
I'm headed out goodbye, goodbye.
Goodbye to the highway
Goodbye to the sky
I'm headed our goodbye, goodbye.

I wish I had a blue guitar,
A blue guitar to play all night long.
I wish I had a blue guitar,
A blue guitar to let you know somehow
You are not needed now.

Miles From Our Home

No one in sight for fifty miles
Sleeping fields sigh as I glide across their spines.
If I can just reach the crest of that hill
This whole day will tumble, out the night will spill.

The sky as still as a spinning top
Shooting stars drop like burning words from above
If I could just connect all these dots
The truth would tumble like a Cynic vexed by love.

And yet people keep saying
I'm miles from my home,
Miles from my home.

I met you again in my sleep last night,
These are days of slow boats and false starts.
Hearts remain under lock and key,
You will be the one to set them both free.

And yet people will tell you
You're miles from your home,
Miles from your home.

But that's where I want to be.
Out there searching,
Out here fumbling,
Out here waiting
For you and you for me.

The moon hangs like a question mark,
Pale as milk, bold as promise.
When will you share these sights with us?
When will we hold you in our arms?

And people will tell them
We're miles from our home,
Miles from our home.

Good Friday

Sat at my window watched the world
Wake up this morning
Purple sky slowly turning golden,
Distant elms so orange
You'd swear they're burning

All this flowing water
Has got my mind wandering.
Do you ever finally reach
A point of knowing
Or do you just wake up one day
And say, I am going?

What will I tell you
When you ask me why I'm crying
Will I point above
At the Red Tail gracefully soaring
Or down below where it's prey
Is quietly trembling?

Two thousand years ago Jesus is left there hanging.
Purple sky slowly turning golden.
Cowards at his feet loudly laughing.
Loved ones stumbling homeward
Their words reeling.
Red Tail above my head quietly soaring.
Waters turn from ice, creak is roaring.
He says, enough of all this shit I am going.

Darkling Days

The beautiful is not chosen.
The chosen becomes beautiful.
The beautiful is not chosen.
The chosen becomes beautiful.

Please do not forsake me now,
Sparkling gone
With darkling says
I drift at times I know it's true
But I always drift on back to you.

The beautiful is not chosen.
The chosen becomes beautiful.

I have never tired of
Manna falling from above
When conscious thought
Meets careless heart
And two lost souls find one fresh start.

Lie me upon the earth
Feel it's curve beneath our spines,
Soon we'll follow it around,
One lost soul
Finally found.

The beautiful is not chosen.
The chosen becomes beautiful.

These are known as darkling days
Rhyming schemes gone askew
Crackling gifts of light and air,
Exploding words,
Ours to share.

The beautiful is not chosen.
The chosen becomes beautiful.

Hollow as a Bone

She hugged his head so hard to her heart
it made her gasp for air
If this was not the way Love felt
then for love she did not care
I want to run beside a moving train
yelling farewells in the rain
The tears will be bittersweet,
'cause I know I'll see him again

If I lost you now,
I would feel as hollow as a bone

He could not help but hang his eyes
her beauty held him so
If this was not a state of Grace
then Grace he'd never know
I want to yell farewell from a crowded pier
just me and a thousand good-byes
The tears will be bittersweet,
'cause soon she'll be back my side

If I lost you now,
I would feel as hollow as a bone

You won't lose me, he replied,
together our lives have been sewn
If I lost you now,
I would feel as hollow as a bone
We will kiss goodnight under a starlit sky
whisper oaths at a lumbering moon
dream sweet dreams before the morning comes
and serves us the dawn in our room

If I lost you now,
I would feel as hollow as a bone

Someone Out There

Someone
Out there
Kneeling.

No one
Out there
Listening.

But what I want to know
Before you save my soul
Is who gave this power to that fucker up there?

Someone
Out there
Crying.

Someone
Out there
Waiting.

But what I want to know
Before I let you go
Is who gave this power to that fucker up there?

Summer of Our Discontent

Another note afloat upon this paper sea
Explain to me
how this can be

Another face erased
from this tidal pool
Found one day
then swept away

I will carry you my love
If you can carry me
through this summer of our discontent

Another day away
from clutching hands
Explain to me
how this can be

I will carry you my love
If you can carry me
through this summer of our discontent

Another falling wave
upon this crumbling beach
How many more
until we meet?

I will carry you my love
If you can carry me
through this summer of our discontent

No Birds Today

No birds today
Just this square patch of gray
Molting sky moving in on its morning prey

No words today
No one knocking at the gate
I lost my name long before I lost my way

I wonder what he thinks out there
Pastures turn from black to green and black again
The sun it carves a well worn path
from here to there and the next day back

No birds today
Just this dull sky of gray
Winter's quickly moving in on its skulking prey

No dust today
No clouds rising from my driveway
No hope drifting slowly my way

I wonder what he thinks in there
Pastures turn from black to green and black again
The sun it carves a well worn path
from here to there and the next day back

Cold bars of steel
I'm beginning to dig the feel
of all that disappears into....ethereal

Cold words of hate
Now I'm seeing how things break
Much too late now to cure my mistakes

I wonder what he thinks in there
Pastures turn from black to green and black again
The sun it carves a well worn path
from here to there and the next day back

No birds today
Just this barren stretch of gray
Just this barren stretch of gray

Those Final Feet

Place my body on the funeral pyre,
cut it loose to float downstream
Leave it frozen on a mountain top,
suspend it high to be picked clean

You said never to grow old,
but you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
and then you sank your teeth into those final feet

Last night I dreamt of owls at my window
I knew that time was winding down
Turned to tell you of my premonition,
changed my mind and lay back down

You said never to grow old,
but you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
and then you sank your teeth into those final feet

No sense wasting the time you got,
you got to walk down every road
No sense pretending that you're what you're not,
when you got to shoulder every load

You said never to grow old,
but you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
and then you sank your teeth into those final feet

Cut it loose, cut it loose, cut it loose

You said never to grow old,
but you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
and then you sank your teeth into those final feet

At the End of the Rainbow

Again,
At the end of the rainbow
Again,
No gold to be found
Just this cold unmade bed
The last 3 words you said
And this buzzing on the telephone line

Paris, well, there is fog on the Seine
Amsterdam still courses through my veins
All these dark crazy sights,
Wouldn't be so bad
If I could just taste your breath once again

Honey I saw your daddy
Lying by the roadside
His feet sticking out of a sack
Honey they'll be calling
To tell you that your daddy
Never will be coming back

Again
At the end of the rainbow
Again,
No words to be found
Just this voice sad and alone
Me wishing I was home
And the silence on the telephone line

Rarities, B Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes

I Saw Your Shoes

I saw your shoes by the kitchen door and I knew I missed you
I saw your shoes by the front door and I began to miss you more
I saw your shoes on the landing and Lord I knew I cared
I saw your shoes pretty baby and I longed to have you there

I saw your shoes by the record player and I wished you'd call me
I saw your shoes by the TV set I prayed you'd call
I saw your shoes by the couch and I longed to feel your touch, babe
I saw your shoes pretty baby and I had to have you there

I see your shoes by the shower stall and I begin to wondering
I see your shoes by the bedroom door and my heart starts pounding
I see your shoes at the foot of the bed and I start laughing
I see your shoes, pretty baby, but most of all I see you

Five room love story

I met her in a church on a Sunday evening
not late on Saturday night
She sang Ave Maria
a little flat and out of time
but that's what drew me to her
so that's alright
As she placed a nickle in the basket
that I held before her
I asked her to be my wife

And there's one cardboard heart
for every time you said "I love you"
A painted star for every secret that we shared
A dried lima bean and small plastic birds
because you cared

I hear their talk and I watch them swap
their old black and whites
Bitter and beaten
they talk of life's cheatin'
like old boxers comparing scars

All I remember is a smile at the top of every working morning
and a shoulder always willing and able
and all those nights that we'd spend just sitting
and talking around our kitchen table

And there's one cardboard heart
for every time you said "I love you"
A painted star for every secret that we shared
A dried lima bean and small plastic birds
because you cared

Five rooms made stronger by the breaking and the healing
of the two hearts they protected within
Now one heart left aching
just piecing and painting
these walls with the memories of all that is real

And there's one cardboard heart
for every time you said "I love you"
A painted star for every secret that we shared
A dried lima bean and small plastic birds
because you cared

And there's one cardboard heart
for every time you said "I love you"
A painted star for every secret that we shared
A dried lima bean and small plastic birds
Because you cared

Sad To See The Season Go

Hollow boned and feathered
She fell to him,
Wriggling perdition she plucked
From deep within.
Feasted high on flowering branches
The fruit of his heart he gave willingly
For her song.

From fresh wounds
Were gathered thick sheaves of love.
He lay open palmed to her world:
She stretched in arched abeyance,
Holding thunderclap and starlight in one mind.

Sad to see the season go.
I'll miss the crackling of the air,
The loss of all I know.
Sad to see the season go.

Indian corn and the bitter taste of envy in the air.
Mired now in cyclic decay.
The nag of conquest.
Skeletal arms
Embrace a withering world.

Sad to see the season go.
I'll miss the crackling of the air,
The loss of all I know.
Sad to see the season go.

Locked here these dreams of you,
Imperfect dormant seeds.

There is a dignity
To this solitude,
A sparkling ambiguity
Both liquid and solid at one time.

If you gotta go, go now

( Bob Dylan Cover )

Listen to me baby there's something that you must see
I want to be with you babe if you want to be with me.
But if you gotta go its all right.
But if you gotta go, go now or else you got to stay all night.

Its not that I am asking you to take part in any kind of quest
It's just that I ain't got no watch and you keep asking me what time it is.
But if you gotta go its all right.
But if you gotta go, go now or else you got to stay all night

I am just a poor girl trying to connect
I certainly don't want you thinking that I ain't got any respect.
But if you gotta go its all right.
But if you gotta go, go now or else you got to stay all night

It ain't that I am wanting anything that you never gave before.
It's just that I'll be sleeping and it will be too dark for you to find the door.
But if you gotta go its all right.
But if you gotta go, go now or else you got to stay all night

Love's still there

Door slams, car starts, he's on the road.
She's left there sitting angry and alone
Thinking of what she should have said
Or maybe she should have gone to bed
Now his words are swirling around in her head.

He said and then she said
And then they both yelled together.
Neither one hearing or listening to the other
Words like I never and you don't understand
One word then another until the whole thing's out of hand.

But love's still there
It's just hiding in the dark cause it's scared.
Hang on to those feelings that you know are true
And remember that this person means everything to you.

Siren scream breaks through her dreams
She rolls to her right.
She realizes that he's still lost to the night.
She gets out of bed both worried and mad,
She prays that he's safe, her anger holds back her dread.

Door opens and in walks her baby
With a look on his face that says I'm sorry.
Now's not the time to play silly games
So you reach out your hand and he does the same.

To lay me down

To lay me down once more.
To lay me down
With my head in sparkling clover.
Let the world go by all lost in dreaming.
To lay me down one last time.
To lay me down.

To be with you once more.
To be with you
With our bodies close together.
Let the world go by like clouds a-streaming.
To lay me down one last time.
To lay me down.

To lay me down.
To lay me down.
To lay me down.
One last time.
To lay me down.

To lie with you once more.
To lie with you
With our dreams entwined together.
To lie beside you my love still sleeping.
To tell sweet lies one last time
And say goodnight.

To lay me down.
To lay me down.
To lay me down.
One last time.
To lay me down.

A Few Simple Words

What does he see in those mashed potatoes?
What secrets does he hold that can be so grim?
The silence like a canyon dividing them
He's on one side she's opposite him
Trying so desperately to get his attention.

She says, "Honey, you're a bastard of great proportion."
He says, "Darling, I plead guilty to that sin."
With potatoes half way to his mouth
He looks her in the eye and says, "without a doubt,
My love for you is all that I believe in".

With those few simple words her heart is sent soaring
She's able to face another day.
Through the anger and the laughter she knows that she matters
And somebody out there cares.

What does she gain by all this sulking?
What troubles can there be for one so young?
Dark tension building like the clouds of a storm
Her daughters in her room and she's at the door
Trying to figure what all this fuss is for.

She says, "mother, you're a witch and i'll always hate you".
She says, "Daughter, perhaps these words you speak are true".
She quietly moves towards the bed,
Looks her in the eye gently says,
"But I will always believe in you".

With those few simple words her heart is sent soaring
She's able to face another day.
Through the anger and the laughter she knows that she matters
And somebody out there cares.

What do we need to keep us going?
What do we need at the end of the day?
Mysteries keep piling like dirty clothes in the corner.
You never thought you'd give up, but you're beginning to wonder
When through the gloom you hear a familiar voice say....

...a few simple words that send your heart soaring
You're able to face another day.
Through the anger and the laughter you know that you matter
And somebody out there cares.

River Waltz

I'm going to find me a dying river
And strike a deal with her i'll say,
"i'll fold you in two and i'll carry you away
To a place where your headwaters will flow
Clean through to your mouth."

In return i'll request a small sanctuary
By her banks where we will live with our small family
She will water our garden and clean the dirt from our skin.
While the world clamours at our door
We will dance and not let them in.

And if one day we wake up to a bed dry as a bone
Find our river stolen, find our sanctuary gone
We will stand and take stock and be grateful
For what we've not lost.

We will pack up our bags, pack our small family
Head across the valley to where the aspen trees
Shiver as they ascend - the green hills rising to blue.
At the edge of the chopping we will turn
And bid fond "adieu".

All that I know to be true
Is the touch of your hand on my skin.
One look from you can so easily soothe
All this turmoil within

As we dance cheek to cheek
With our feet so completely
Locked in a time all our own.
I stop to speak
But you gently keep me
Moving in time to the song.
And in a voice that is sloppy with gin
You say, "let the world spin."

I'm going to find me a dying river
And strike a deal with her i'll say,
"i'll fold you in two and i'll carry you away
To place where your headwaters will flow
Clean through to your mouth."

In return i'll request a small sanctuary
By her banks where we will live with our small family
She will water our garden and clean the dirt from our skin.
While the world clamours at our door
We will dance and not let them in.

Leaving normal

It's been a long time since i've seen the high plains of Expectation
And I'm way past the lowlands and the deserts of Failure and Doubt
And the last time I passed through Satisfaction
I didn't recognize a single soul there
Now I'm leaving Normal and I'm heading for who knows where

"Excuse mister is that seat taken can I put my bag over here
You know, this trip would go a whole lot smoother if you'd take your hand from there
No I'm not from around here and my name's not little darlin"
Why's there one in every crowd and why do I attract them
Funny how the smell of a Greyhound bus now smells like a fresh start to me
And how the sound of steelbelts on asphalt is now the sound of breaking free
But I'd trade all those cancelled tickets for a single return fare
To a station with a loved one waiting there

I've finally learned that there's good and bad and that girl can do some choosing
Of that I'm glad cause this heart and face won't take any more bruising
And the next time that I fall into another's arms there's one thing of which i'll be certain
That he can bear the weight of the love I give without considering it a burden

It's been a long time since I saw the high plains of Expectation
And I'm way past the lowlands and the desert of Failure and Doubt
And the last time I passed through Satisfaction I felt like a stranger there
Now I'm leaving Normal wherever I'm headed, I don't care

The water is wide

The water is wide, I cannot cross over
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I.

Oh love is gentle and love is kind
The sweetest flower when first it blooms
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew.

The water is wide, I cannot cross over
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
And both shall row,
My love and I

Open

I did it all for you

(i did it all for you)

She took his dentures from his mouth
And placed them in her own.
Took a shovel from the shed
And then dragged him from their home.
(i did it all for you.)
Left a note tacked to the door,
"paid in full" is what it said.
High above i look below
And watch her slowly go.
River, like magnesium,
Burns.

(i did it all for you)

He stuck his fingers in their backs
To count the holes he bore.
Doused them all in kerosene
And moved to bolt the door.
(i did it all for you)
Called his dad and said goodbye
As his lit match hit the floor.
High above i look below
And watch them slowly go.
River, like magnesium,
Burns.

(i did it all for you)

Set his guilt before his rage
Set it like a wall
To protect what he once knew as love,
But which he never knew at all.
River, like magnesium,
Burns.
(i did it all for you)
(i did it all for you)

Dragging hooks

Can't lose the taste of this river mud,
Black water in my lungs.
They say you can't step in the same river twice
Well i've been stepping in this river seems like most my life.

So sharpen up those dragging hooks
Tie that sheep shank tight
Cast into the river boys
We're dragging for those lost years tonight.

There's a man whose lost his wife
Said she'd be home by eight,
But that was well on three weeks ago
Now he's walking those banks searching for clues to her fate.

See that girl she's lost her boy
Flash flood stole him away.
Now she keeps a vigil on that suspension bridge
Praying for that river to return him one day.

So sharpen up those dragging hooks
Tie that clove hitch tight
Cast into the river boys
We're dragging for lost love tonight.

Can't lose the taste of this river mud
Black water in my lungs.
They say even the weariest river in the end will find the sea
But here among the cat tails all we discuss is breaking free

So sharpen up those dragging hooks
Tie that sheep shank tight
Cast into the water boys
We're dragging for lost souls tonight.

Bread and wine

Well i'm lyin' in my bed, a tangle of arms and legs,
But the one that i'm with is not the one bouncing 'round my head.
I could turn this into song or cheap fantasy,
But whatever i've ignited will still burn in me.

Bread and wine, bread and wine, your heart ain't nearly as guilty as mine.

I'm a dark heavy heart. I'm a soul full of holes.
I'm a boat that is sinking, muddy waters threatening this baggage in my hold.
And there's a line in my head from an old gospel song,
But no matter how hard i try, the words they just come out wrong.

Bread and wine, bread and wine your thoughts aint nearly as wicked as mine.
Bread and wine, bread and wine your cross aint nearly as heavy as mine.

I've been graced by the gift of a gold wedding band.
I've been soothed by the simple caress of my true love's hand.
And yet i'm lyin' in my bed, a tangle of arms and legs,
And the one that i'm with is not the one that i'm dreaming of.

Bread and wine, bread and wine, won't you please be my bread and wine.
Bread and wine, bread and wine, won't you please be my bread and wine.

Upon still waters

(a curly blonde disaster
Lying out there)

He said, "you make me feel
As desired as a crackling fire."
She said, "i saw a man out walking
Upon still waters….

(i want to lie beside you
In a warm bed,

Feel your heart
Beat in my throat.)

….and no one stopped to stare.
There he was all, alone,
Out walking upon still waters."

He said, "you can feel it fall,
All at once upon the land."
She said, "you don't know what you've missed
Until you've walked upon still waters."

(a curly blonde disaster)

Dark hole again

Stuck in that dark hole again.
Someone throw me a ladder
On which i can depend.
Someone give me a handhold
To help me ascend.
Someone give me a reason
To start up these walls once again.

Lost in those gray clouds again.
Trying to punch my way through them
As fear settles in.
Earth growing larger as i fall into a spin.
Someone give me a reason
To take on those gray clouds again.

Caught in this rip tide again.
My mouth wide open,
The sea pouring in.
Perhaps i'll just float here
And see where this journey ends.
Until someone gives me a reason
To stay clear of those rip tides again.

Thousand year prayer

Here we all are at the end of "the century of beauty lost".
We greedily ate what you gave us, the rest we tossed.
We've trapped all your rivers, paved every pass,
Pulled at your sky till we caused it to rip.
But you've got jimi hendrix so lets call it an even split.

I've met a girl who has turned my whole world upside down.
The stars i once stretched for, now litter the ground.
I am cursed by too little, or is it too much belief,
In the strength of another man's words.
But i've got a girl, thank you lord.

Here we all are at the start of another thousand years.
All those love stories, yet to be told.
Ours is this river asleep at our feet,
Blessed by this wet autumn day.
Here we all are……

I’m so open

Just outside there waiting.
Just outside the circle.
Waiting for that finger to point your way.
Just keep running. Just keep running.

New ones quickly burning.
Old ones die away.
Fires lit to say goodbye or hello.
Which way you looking? Which way you looking?

Count all wounds that brought you here.
Lay your blessings end to end.
Rid yourself of all regrets
Because here is where it all begins.
A bumbler's game, a cheaters wheel
Where the winner pays the highest cost.
You've laid your marker now watch the ball.
Hold your breath its about to fall.

Just outside there waiting.
Just outside the circle.
Waiting there is someone i don't know who.
I'm so open, i'm so open.

I don't sleep most nights,
Just lie awake and count my blessings.

I'll take this endless life
Of perfect pointless mornings.

I'll hold you till the morning comes
'Cause it's all that i can do.

I'm so open. I'm so open.

I don't like these last goodbyes.
I don't like goodbyes.

Small swift birds

I've been told that it's just the way life goes.
Once the wildest river is now a trickle to the sea.
The peak we risk our lives to scale becomes dirt beneath our feet.
The wisdom of a life time always disappears untapped.
Paradise once given will always be taken back.
And the love you hang your life upon will start to slowly crack.

I have seen people suffocate the dream.
Forgetting to turn that one last time while she watches through the door.
Focusing on the garbage that she use to ignore.
Thinking she looks so beautiful but not yelling it out loud.
He should have thought to kiss her before he headed out.
Just forgetting how fucking lucky you are to have found her in such a crowd.

But we've seen a cloud of starlings rising on a crisp autumn day.
We were handed the weight of a child sleeping and bore her away.
We've tasted the tears that fall when saying goodbye forever.
And we've seen the silver from a waxing moon wash upon the shore.

I have heard about the lives of small swift birds.
They dazzle with their colour and their deftness through the air.
Just a simple glimpse will keep you simply standing there.
Legendary journeys made on fragile hollow wings.
The night skies rich with whistling each and every spring.
And then there's the day we look for them and can't find them anywhere.

I've been told that it's just the way life goes.

Beneath the gate

She was found beneath the gate,
Forsaken at the gate.
Who would have thought that so much love
Could be so carelessly misplaced.
Found. Beneath the gate.

We gazed upon the moon,
A honed and whetted moon.
Wondered if you saw the same
An hour from your mothers womb.
Gazing at the moon.

We stood beneath the gate.
Three beneath the gate.
The rare good will of the random world,
Smiling like a sickle moon.

She was found beneath the gate.
Forsaken at the gate.
Found beneath the gate.

Close my eyes

I want to walk away
Like judas from the table
Turn my back
And walk away

I want to close my eyes
Like that novice at the altar
Bow my head
And close my eyes

Sorrow took love's splintered hands
And waltzed her 'cross a painted floor
Whispered softly in her ear
"let's get outta here"

I'm going to breathe the air
That my children will be breathing
Breathe them out
And breathe them in again

I'm going to close my eyes
And walk away
Turn my back
Bow my head
And close my eyes

One soul now

One soul now

Abandon all those precious things.
One soul now
Carry only what twilight brings.
One soul now
Watch the colour drain from the sky.
One soul now
Stillness settles, glides on by.
One soul now

I don't understand how these things
Move the way they do.
Collide the way they do.
Feel the way they do.
When we touch the way we do.

Fireflies drift on a midnight fog.
One soul now
Twinkling gifts from a puzzling god.
One soul now
Journey out into the fields.
One soul now
Crane our necks and watch us wheel.
On soul now

I don't understand how these things
Move the way they do.
Collide the way they do.
Feel the way they do.
When we touch the way we do.

Feel the weight of all those slings
One soul now
Carrying only what twilight brings
One soul now

Why this one

Of all the lives to live why this one?
Filled with could-have-been. No fun.
Countless nights of anxious frustrations.
Of all the lives to live why this one?

Of all the souls to meet why these two?
One, old and dark, furious as a shrugging ocean.
The other, shiny, fresh as a winter morning.
Of all the souls to meet why these two?

Another night in bed with you
Another day beside you gone.
Slipping softly off to sleep
You say, "do you ever wonder why this one?"

A dusty simple-minded piece of fiction.
Strange and odd, twisted as a contradiction.
A glittering jewel of flaws and celebration.

Another night in bed with you
Another day beside you gone.
Slipping softly off to sleep
You say, "do you ever wonder why this one?"
You say, "do you ever wonder why this one?"
You say, "do you ever wonder why this one?"
Why this one, why this one, why this one?

My wild child

Betrayed? It's the question
That i am asking.
Or just a lucky one deceived by too much love.

Confused. Is the issue.
I'm in need of high rescue.
Another lucky one stunned by too much love.

My wild child
She's my salvaged shipwreck.
My wild child she's my stone.
My wild child
She's my constant reminder.
My wild child she's my home.

Lost. Is the place
Where i'm hammering stakes.
Sign says, "a lucky one done in by too much love."

Saved. Is the state
That we are told was graced.
He was just a lucky one betrayed by too much love.

My wild child
She's my salvaged shipwreck.
My wild child she's my stone.
My wild child
She's my constant reminder.
My wild child she's my home.

Life. Is the riddle
Of which we're caught in the middle.
A couple of lucky ones
Tangled up in too much love.

My wild child
She's my salvaged shipwreck.
My wild child she's my stone.
My wild child
She's my constant reminder.
My wild child she's my home.
My wild child brings me home.

From hunting ground to city

To hunting ground from city.
That's where my baby took me with her smile.
To hunting ground from city.
I never thought that i'd have to retrace those miles.
It's been a while since i've seen that smile
Appear upon her face
And now i find i'm slowly drifting back
From hunting ground to city.

To hunting ground from city.
Our daughters eyes they took us for a ride.
To hunting ground from city.
Cat's eyes sparkling, blue eyes in my mind.
We said goodbye under a drop of sky
We left her in that place
And now we find we're slowly drifting back
From hunting ground to city.

From hunting ground from city.
The journey down is sure to be a laugh.
From hunting ground from city.
At least we'll have each other to see it pass.
I've seen that line of broken minds
And i fear to join it's ranks,
But still i find i'm slowly drifting back
From hunting ground to city.

Stars of our stars

Stars of our stars.
Dreams of my dreams.
You come to me
Singing " the stars of our stars".

The stars of our stars
Came up the first day.
The moon did set.
The sun comes up.
And all the stars did disappear.

Stars of our stars.
Dreams of my dreams.
You come to me
Dancing to "the stars of our stars".

The stars of our stars
Came up the second day.
The moon did set.
The sun comes up.
And all the stars did disappear.

Times at night in the spill of light
You catch a glimpse.
You make a start with an eager heart,
But it always slips.
And then everything shifts.

Stars of our stars.
Dreams of my dreams.
You come to me
Trailing "the stars of our stars".

The stars of our stars
Will come up the third day.
The moon will set.
The sun comes up.
And all the stars will disappear.

Notes falling slow

My love swears that he is made of truth
I do believe him though i know he lies.
I've caught him creeping 'round darkened holes.
I've caught him staring at distant skies.

I would have seen it coming but i'm blind with age.
Too much time on the battle line.
Shut it all out just let the notes fall slow.

Slow.

My love lives inside a haze of gloom.
He fears today, what might come tomorrow.
Seeks the shadow, shuns the light.
Bleeds for knowledge, prepares for sorrow.

I would have seen it coming but i'm blind with age.
Too much time on the battle line.
Shut it all out just let the note fall slow.

Slow.

This ain't no depression, just notes falling slow.
An early snow and notes falling slow.
Do i have the strength to bear their passion?
An early snow and notes falling slow.

No long journey home

This ain't no long journey home.
This ain't no trip across the tracks.
This ain't no dead end street
There ain't no turning back.
This ain't no long journey home.

Another tale about an aging man,
A tried but twisted plot,
Another hero finding out that he's not.
Act one we watch the onion peel.
Act two the tragic flaw revealed.
In three we close our eyes as his fate's sealed.

This ain't no long journey home.

Here's a story about a once young girl
Whose life has turned to rot.
Thought she found her dreams but she had not.
Act one we see her bold and strong.
Act two we watch her fumble along.
In three we close our eyes as all goes wrong.

This ain't no long journey home.
This ain't no trip across the tracks.
This ain't no dead end street
There ain't no turning back.
This ain't no long journey home.

A cautionary tale for all who come this way,

A warning writ in water.
Act one you'll see it all so clear.
Act two you'll watch it disappear.
In three open your eyes and stare down your fears.

'Cause this ain't no long journey home.
This ain't no long journey home.
This ain't no long journey home.
This ain't no long journey home.

He will call you baby

He will call you baby
But will he listen when you cry?
He will call you sweetheart
But always seem apart.
He will tear all your fences down,
Trample all into the ground.
He will call you baby.

She will call you honey
And leave you twisting in the wind.
She will call you darling,
Keep you stunned and wondering.
She will take you to another world
Where the winds of confusion swirl.
She will call you honey.

We should call them lucky
As they watch their babies dance.
Or maybe call them crazy
For even thinking they have a chance.
They will carry her as far as they can
Then abandon her once again,
They will call her baby.
They will call her baby

Simon keeper

Jesus was a carpenter he died nailed to a wooden cross.
Irony oh irony upon me it is never lost.

Gather 'round now people, i'm here to tell a tale
About a man who walks among you, a man you each know well.
My name is simon keeper i had a wife and three grown kids,
A job in the towers cooking the books for the shills that grease the skids.

Irony oh irony, you are a bitter fruit to eat.
Stripped of all your beauty your flesh is none too sweet.

Now i ain't the most honest man that ever worked a skim.
I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar and brother that was it.
Fifty-four and a big black mark upon my resume,
I found selling off what you don't own might earn you the time of day.

Next it was a letter from my darling one,
"what's yours is mine, what's mine is mine",
Sealed with a hug and kiss.
One by one my children closed their lives to me.
Lesson learned on daddy's knee,
"give no quarter to the weak".

Irony oh irony, you are the polar seed of truth,
You grow upon the open plain the faithful you uproot.

Kicked around 'bout a year living hand to mouth,
Then one day tryin' to bum a light i felt my will give out.
Sat right down on the corner, started prayin' a little too loud.
Left my troubles far behind
When i saw them emptying their pockets out.

Irony oh irony, you are a treacherous son of a bitch,
Pretending not to care about the heights you'll never reach.

Now i won't start in preaching 'bout reaping what you sow,
This is the story of a half-hearted man,
Half honest as they go.
But sit on down and rest a spell i've got another tale to tell.
About a lost young man in a far away land whose life is just too easy to sell.

Jesus was a carpenter he died nailed to a wooden cross.
Irony oh irony upon me it is never lost.

The slide

Jesus, sweet jesus if you're listening
Can you pass me to your pa.
I'm having a hard time understanding
Why he's so cruel and demanding
With his love.

Darling, sweet darling keep whispering
I'll find you through this din.
Sitting and watching,
Two flames busy dancing
To our love.

Grab on to this moment, inhale it
And hold it inside.
Savour its sweetness,
Yearn for the slide.

Jesus, sweet jesus if you're listening
Can you pass me to your pa.
I'm having a hard time understanding
Why he's so discriminating
With his love.

Early 21st century blues

License to kill

( Bob Dylan )

Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth
He can do with it as he please
And if things don't change soon, he will
Oh, man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon
Now there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grow still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill

Now, they take him and they teach him
And they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars
Sell his body like they do used cars
Now there's a woman on my block
She just sit there facin' the hill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill

Now, he's hell bent for destruction
He's afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes they just tell him lies
But there's a woman on my block
Sitting there in a cold chill

She say who gonna take away his license to kill

May be noisemaker, spirit maker
Heartbreaker, backbreaker
Leave no stone unturned
May be an actor in a plot
That might be all that you got
Till your error you clearly learn

Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool
And when he sees his reflection he's fulfilled
Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Now, there's a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grow still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill

Two soldiers

( Traditional )

He was just a blue-eyed boston boy
His voice was low with pain
I'll do your bidding commrad mine
If i ride back again
But if you ride back and i am dead
You'll do as much for me
Mother, you know, must hear the news
So write to her tenderly

She's a-waiting at home like a patient saint
Her fallen face paled with woe
Her heart would be broken when i am gone
I'll see her soon, i know.
Just then the order came to charge
For an instant hand touched hand
They sayed "aye" and away they rode
That brave and devoted band

Straight was the course to the top of the hill
And the rebels they shot and shelled
Plowed furroughs of death through the toiling ranks
And guarded them as they fell
There soon was a horrible dying yell
From heights that they could not gain
And those who doom and death had spared
Rode slowly back again

But among the dead that were left on the hill
Was the boy with curly hair
The tall dark man who fought by his side
Lay dead beside him there
Well there was was no one to write to the blue-eyed girl
The words that her lover had said
While mother at home is awaiting her boy
She'll only know he's dead
She'll only know he's dead

December skies

September skies,
Bodies falling
Never again will you catch me admiring
Those vast september skies.

October skies,
Hate is flying.
Crimson leaves slowly falling
From azure october skies.

Time to kill our children
And sing about it.
Let’s all kill our children
And sing about it.

November skies,
Heart is sinking.
No telling where they’re leading
These grey november skies.

Time to kill our children
And sing about it.
Let’s all kill our children
And sing about it.

December skies, star will be rising.
Will we heed those lessons ringing
Through those dark december skies.

Time to kill our children
And sing about it.
Let’s all kill our children
And sing about it.

This world dreams of

Try to find the reference
It makes no difference to me.
Draw your own conclusions,
Add to my confusion if you please.
The time for concessions
And midnight confessions is long gone.
I’ll sit here in the silence
And wait for all the violence to engulf me.

I hate to take the easy way out, now people,
But options are closing down fast.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.

Vengeance has been tasted,
Hatred cultivated,
Its an old game.
Everyone gets fatter,
People choose what matters,
There’s no shame.

I hate to take the easy way out, now people,
But options are closing down fast.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.

Simple as a folk tale,
Deadly as a stairwell,
It surrounds you.
Stupid men and bastards
Always bite their masters.
They will get you.

I hate to take the easy way out, now people,
But options are closing down fast.
More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.

This world dreams of……

Brothers under the bridge

( Bruce Springsteen )

Saigon, it was all gone
The same coke machines as the streets i grew on
Down a mesquite canyon we come walking along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Campsite's an hour's walk from the nearest road to town
Up here there's too much brush and canyon for the chp choppers to touch down
Ain't lookin' for nothin', just wanna live
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come the santa ana's, man, that dry brush'll light
Billy devon got burned up in his own campfire one winter night
We buried his body in the white stone high up along the ridge
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Had enough of town and the street life
Over nothing you end up on the wrong end of someone's knife
Now i don't want no trouble and i ain't got none to give
Me and the brothers under the bridge

I come home in '72
You were just a beautiful light in your mama's dark eyes of blue
I stood down on the tarmac, i was just a kid
Me and the brothers under the bridge

Come veteran's day i sat in the stands in my dress blues
I held your mother's hand when they passed with the red, white and blue
One minute you're right there . . . Then something slips . . .

You're missing

( Bruce Springsteen )

Shirts in the closet, shoes in the hall
Mama's in the kitchen, baby and all
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing

Coffee cups on the counter, jackets on the chair
Papers on the doorstep, you're not there
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing

Pictures on the nightstand, tv's on in the den
Your house is waiting, your house is waiting
For you to walk in, for you to walk in
But you're missing, you're missing

You're missing when i shut out the lights
You're missing when i close my eyes
You're missing when i see the sun rise
You're missing

Children are asking if it's alright
Will you be in our arms tonight?

Morning is morning, the evening falls i got
Too much room in my bed, too many phone calls
How's everything, everything?
Everything, is everything you're missing, you're missing

God's drifting in heaven, devil's in the mailbox
I got dust on my shoes, nothing but teardrops

Handouts in the rain

( Richie Havens )

You can talk about your neighbor
You can grab him by the collar
You can hurt him only if he hollers
"let me go…let me go"

But we all know that’s old-fashioned
And it can only lead to pain
Where we might end up on the corner
Taking handouts in the rain

You can bomb your foreign brother
You can hurt him until he dies
You can kill him until he never asks you why
You’re on his land…you’re on his land

But we all know that’s all over
And that can only lead to blame
Where we might end up for our country
Taking handouts in the rain

You can trample on your sister
You can hurt her only if she cries
You can hurt her only if she cares
With all her heart…with all her heart

But we all know she’d be a mother
And that could only lead to shame
Where she might end up for her children
Taking handouts in the rain

Teach your children stories
You can fill them full of lies
You can make them all despise
One another…one another

But when they all find out later
And they call us by our rightful names
And send us shamefully to old age
Taking handouts in the rain
Taking handouts in the rain
Taking handouts in the rain

Isn't it a pity

( George Harrison )

Isn't it a pity
Now, isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Some things take so long
But how do i explain
When not too many people
Can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can't hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn't it a pity

Isn't it a pity
Isn't is a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity
Forgetting to give back
Now, isn't it a pity

No more

( Traditional )

No more my lord
No more my lord
Lord i’ll never turn back, no more

I have found in him
Many resting place
And he has made me glad

No more my lord
No more my lord
Lord i’ll never turn back, no more.

Jesus, the man i am looking for
Can you tell me where
He has gone?

Go down, go down
In my flower yard
And perhaps you may find
Find him there.

I don't want to be a soldier

( John Lennon )

Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Well i don't wanna be a sailor mamma, i don't wanna fly
Well i don't wanna be a failure mamma, i don't wanna cry
Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

Well i don't wanna be a rich man mamma, i don't wanna cry
Well i don't wanna be a poor man mamma, i don't wanna fly
Well i don't wanna be a lawyer mamma, i don't wanna lie
Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

Well i don't wanna be a beggar mamma, i don't wanna die
Well i don't wanna be a theif now mamma, i don't wanna fly
Well i don't wanna be a churchman mamma, i don't wanna cry
Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no
Hit it!

Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Well i don't wanna be a sailor mamma, i don't wanna fly
Well i don't wanna be a failure mamma, i don't wanna cry
Well i don't wanna be a soldier mamma, i don't wanna die
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

I’m tilting on the break of shit
Decisions making in my life
Makes me loose it i ain’t taking it this way i ain’t making it
There n mistakes but if i’m wrong i will pay for it
Like them bills i hate to pay
Today i stay brave to win every day i’m a soldier
I don’t wanna die. I ain’t know killer either
So why does mama cry?
She needs to feed her child
But she’s a child in her father’s eyes
Ya’ll better recognize
The power parents recking with
Does it make sense to make way for censorship?
It’s brains we messing with
Across the planes we got kids n chains and whips
Who live their lives censor less but we couldn’t give a shit.
I don’t wanna lie
Cheaters will cheat
Some will rather reach jesus
Before meeting defeat
I think it’s easy to see i you be seeing these streets
Sometimes my eyes
Can’t believe what they see,
On tv, young like me sent over seas
Sent over greed i believe
Is this what we need?
Yo these guys like me.
To add fire to the fuel
Life twisted my views
Just from flicking the news
I gives me the early 21st century blues
But we making it threw
Make what you make it
You can’t redo what you do
I’m the living proof making it threw the 21st century blues
Peace.

One

( U2 )

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You've got someone to blame

You say one love one life
When its one need in the nightone love we get to share it
It leaves you baby if you dont care for it

Did i disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well it's too late tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other carry each other one

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play jesus
To the lepers in your head?

Did i ask too much more than a lot
You gave me nothing now it's all i got
We're one but we're not the same
Well we hurt each other then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter, but then you make me
And i can't be holding on to what
When all you got is hurt one love one blood
One life you got to do what you should
One life with each othersisters brothers
One life but we're not the same
We get tocarry each other carry each other one

At the End of Paths Taken

Brand new world

Mouths to feed, shoes to buy
Rent to pay, tears to dry
Brand new world
I can’t relate
Let us choose
To not participate

Open up
Let me wander in
Your heart is not
Such a tender thing
Brand new world
I contend
Only love
Will stop the withering

Oh, to lie in wait
As the shadows and the shapes
Spill across the walls
Like a river
Deep
In spate

Four am
Dark reality
Brand new world
And my heart
Is missing

Still lost

Settling now
Once again
What was begun
Will meet it’s end

Running now
Time to hide
Go inside
It’s time to hide

Here we stand at the end of paths taken
(guiding light inspiration)
The slow decline
The crumbling foundation, the stations, and now the cross
But we’re still lost

Waiting now
Dull roots twinning
Keeping watch
For new roots shining

There you stand at the edge of salvation
(guiding light inspiration)
The slow decline
The crumbling foundation, the stations, and now the cross
But we’re still lost

Cutting board blues

If you’ve gone and made your mind up
About leaving tomorrow
Take it all, but leave
My cutting board behind

I can see my way ahead
I reach this closed doorway
Try as i might
I can’t find my way behind

Do you see the end of time
Or a new level
Next time, alone
We’ll leave the others behind

If you’ve gone and made your mind up
‘bout leaving tomorrow
Take it all, but leave
My cutting board behind

Spiral down

Now it all begins
Or continues to
Spiral down
Spiral down

I’ve laid it out on paper
Instructions of what to do
As my mind begins to waver
Losing contact with you

Now it all begins
Or continues to
Spiral down
Spiral down

Look upon the self
Look upon the other
We need a better understanding
Or we’ll spiral down

Spiral down
Continue to spiral down
I’m no where near my peace
As you spiral down

My little basquiat

My little boy on the kitchen floor
(my little basquiat)
Stick men fighting stick dinosaurs
(my little basquiat)
Colours leaping all over the mat
(my little basquiat)
The kitchen floor is where it’s at
For my little basquiat

One day
He’ll be golden
Maybe chosen
Perhaps to lead
One day
He’ll be shaken
Maybe taken
Perhaps to bleed

My big girl swinging from the bars
(my little comaniche)
Fist of stone flying above the yard.
(my little comaniche)
Halfway up is halfway down
(my little comaniche)
Or maybe it’s the other way around
For my little comaniche

One day
She’ll be moonlight
Maybe too bright
Perhaps, to shine
One day
She’ll be found out
Maybe ground down
Perhaps she’ll cry

My little girl on her mothers lap
(my little panchen lama)
Sucking on her fingers, surveying the roadmap
(my little panchen lama)
Seems to be the only one around
(my little panchen lama)
That sees the red lights at the end of town
(my little panchen lama)

One day
They’ll be older
Maybe bolder
Perhaps, than me
One day
They’ll be rising
Maybe living
Perhaps, in peace

Someday soon

Someday soon
I’m going to find myself a saviour
Sit him on the naugahide
And make him tell me the answers
Someday soon
He’ll look at me
With the word in his eyes
He’ll notice the hero to come
Someday soon

Someday soon
I’m going to find myself a leader
Someone who can take me
By the hand towards safety
Someday soon
With only a wink
He’ll tell me all i need know
His personal call will come
Someday soon

Find myself another heart to carry this weight
Find another part to take

Someday soon
I’m going to find myself a banner
March when they tell me to
Cheer when it matters
Someday soon
Let’s take our place
At the back of the bus
Erase all the lies we’ve been told
Shoulder the load of those that are dear
And look to the days to come
Someday soon

Follower 2

My father’s stories fell upon us
Filled us with his light
Gospels, fertile minds
Taking root, taking root

His pocket change would jingle
Sacramental bells
Heads tucked low
Sneaking peaks, sneaking peaks

And the rain comes down
It’s dark, and the browns
Begin to bite
Here you will always be
Behind me, and you will not go away

There he sleeps, an untamed land
Dark corners yet discovered

His heart yet to be
Trod upon, trod upon

I can’t bare to hear his breathing
Simply knowing what’s to come

I can’t bare to hear your breathing
Knowing what’s to come

It really doesn't matter anyway

The singer brought her to tears
But they were my words not hers
What I said, or didn’t say
It doesn’t really matter anyway

Beside me, you looked so small
So I’m the one now that makes you crawl
A misplaced word, nothing brutish
Can serve as the sand to extinguish the flame
It doesn’t really matter anyway

It doesn’t really matter anyway
It doesn’t really matter anyway
It doesn’t really matter anyway
It doesn’t really matter anyway

Blue eyed savior

Where’d you go my blue eyed saviour
Where’d you go my darling one
Lying on that field of honour
Not sure what you’re waiting on
And she won’t let him through the door
Her mind is ticking through those tumbling years
The one’s he promised he’d be there for
She says, “hope: the belief that loved ones will never die”
I’ve never heard such nonsense
I’ve never heard such lies

What to do with our sputtering engine
What to do with our fading star
Leaving us to wander freely
Trying to find out where we are
And I can’t bear to see him go
There is just too much left on the table
There has been too much left alone
She says, “hope: the belief that loved ones will never die”
I’ve never heard such nonsense
I’ve never heard such lies

Listen to my wide eyed bundle
Listen to them assail the night
Lost again in their caves of wonder
Leaving us alone outside
And I can barely stand the simple pleasure
Each breath carrying just a little more weight
As I bend to adjust the comforter
I think, “hope: the belief that loved ones will never die”
I’ve never heard such nonsense
I’ve never heard such lies

Mountain

You speak your love
You turn, are gone
What kind of love
You thinking of

Can you tell me how this mountain got so high

Moments worth
The price of myths
Lifting from our fingertips
Reaching for the next hand hold on the wall

How’d this mountain get so high
How’d this mountain get so high
Can someone tell me how this mountain got so high

Step by step
We take on weight
The trick is now
To separate
Secure the good
Leave the rot behind

How’d this mountain get so high
How’d this mountain get so high
Can someone tell me how this mountain got so high

No need for answers
But give them choice
A simple place
To hear their voice

Can someone tell me how this mountain got so high

How’d this mountain get so high
How’d this mountain get so high
Can someone tell me how this mountain got so high

My only guarantee

Keep it coming
I’ve got your back
Do not fear
When I’m on deck
A bigger lie I’ve never told
A bigger story yet to unfold
My only guarantee: i will fuck you up

Another day
Of pure energy
What wears most
Is the constancy
A bigger job I’ve never had
A bigger burden I could not drag
My only guarantee: I will fuck you up

Strange how things
Come about
Will I ever know
How things turn out
A bigger wish I’ve never known
A bigger question I’m trying to hone
My only guarantee: I will fuck you up