ALL MY TROUBLES SEEM SMALL
I’ve got a good friend she’s been
going through some bad times
between a rock and a hard place
where dreams disappear
I’ve got my own troubles
but when I think about her
Looks like I’m having
a pretty good year

all my troubles seem small
when I see these people with their
backs are to the wall
i watch what they go through
I see how far they fall
compared to them
i’ve got no troubles at all

I turn on my TV
and see a grieving mother
the look on her face
says all there is to tell
another child caught
in the crossfire
in some war-torn
corner of hell

A telephone rings in
the middle of the night,
leaves someone sitting
alone in the dark.
alone with their questions
alone with their fears,
alone with the sound
of their thundering heart

When I hear myself complain
When life seems so unfair
I think about these people
Broken by despair

AN IRELAND LEFT BEHIND
It was raining in Seattle
The night we said good-bye
The lights of Queen Anne Hill
Lay soft against the sky
As we looked down on the city
And spoke a final time
And then we turned away
And left Ireland behind

How many nights we lay awake
And dreamed how it might be
To walk the green and misty hills
Above the Irish Sea
It’s dreams that linger longest
When all else is gone and done
Our dream times in Seattle
Were as close as we would come

Sorrow follows sorrow
What a lonely path it is
That brings the one to finally say
I have no more love to give

And so we went our separate ways
And sorrows dimmed with time
Except perhaps for those we kept
Of an Ireland left behind

Now here I am in Dublin
On the docks at the harbor-side
Watching ships put out to sea
Upon the evening tide
And bittersweet the memories
That call you to my mind
So far from Queen Anne Hill
And an Ireland left behind

BACK IN THE DAYS
Back in the days that never were
We were so innocent and pure
And the world belonged to us
Of that much we were sure
Back in the days that never were
Back in the days that never were

Back in the days that never were
Wrong was wrong and right was right
We watched the pictures on TV
We learned to see things black and white
And we believed what we were told:
We were the brightest and the best
We had our bibles and our guns
We were the bravest, we were the blessed

CHORUS:
Back in the days, back in the days,
Back in the days that never were
Back in the days, back in the days
Back in the days that never were

Back in the days that never were
Our dreams left little room for doubt
The future was waiting in the wings
And all we had to do was call it out
All we had to do was keep the faith
All we had to do was toe the line
All we had to do to keep the sky forever blue
Was find a way to stop the hands of time
CHORUS

BAREFOOT WALTZ
It was a cold Sunday morning that cried at the window.
There was a frown on the face of the clock on the wall.
The calendar showed only three days ’til Spring,
But out in the street snow was starting to fall.

We were two orphan kittens that nobody wanted
A couple of roses that had faded too soon
The Sunday funnies that lay on the floor
Was the only bright spot in the room.

Well, I sat at the window with my shoes in my hands
And you stood at the window looking up at the sky.
It felt like nothing could save us this time:
We were lost and we did not know why.

Then you turned the radio on,
and I heard us both start singing along.
The next thing I knew I was dancing with you
And the whole world was playing our song.

CHORUS:
We did the Barefoot Waltz on the Sunday funnies
And the laughs that we had made the rafters ring;
The Barefoot Waltz on the Sunday funnies
On the day before the day before the first day of spring.

The comic strip pages that lay under our feet
Made a carpet of colors, like flowers in bloom,
And while the snow piled up on the rooftops outside
We floated away to a warm afternoon.

You were the girl in the green summer dress
And I was the guy who was holding her tight
We danced our way down to the river and back
Turning through circles of shadow and light.

I can still feel you here in my arms;
I’m still falling into your eyes.
I still hear the bells of our laughter that day
Echoing down through our lives. 

CHORUS:
We did the Barefoot Waltz on the Sunday funnies
And the laughs that we had made the rafters ring;
The Barefoot Waltz on the Sunday funnies
On the day before the day before the first day of spring.

BEARER OF THE LIGHT
If it were fire you needed most, I would become the flame.
And if the moment called for strength, steel would be my name.
And if your heart were heavy I would become the feathered wing
To carry you into the blue to dwell among your dreams.

And if your lips were thirsty I’d be the wine that fills your glass.
I’d be the sun upon your face when the storm has rolled on past.
I’d be a lucky penny; I would be your wishing stone.
I’d be the ground beneath your feet and the stars that lead you home.

If the light of one small candle can defy the darkest night,
How could I not seek to be a bearer of the light for you,
A bearer of the light.

I’d be the hand that reaches down if you should ever fall.
I would be the saving grace where you saw no grace at all.
I would be a willing vessel for all that you hold close.
I’d be the love that finds you in the times you need it most.

If the light of one small candle can defy the darkest night,
How could I not seek to be a bearer of the light for you,
A bearer of the light… how could I not seek to be a bearer of the light.

CACTUS ED
I was living in Seattle in the spring of ’89
When I read the news about his death one morning in the Times
I lay down my paper and stared off into the rain
With Edward Abbey gone this world would seem a little tame

So let him be remembered by the name of Cactus Ed
With a monkey wrench in one hand and a buzzard overhead
Drifting down the river with his fist around a beer
Naked as creation and grinning ear to ear

It’s a fool’s life; it’s a rogue’s life and it’s a good life
If you can laugh all the way to the grave.

There’s a book you ought to read called “Desert Solitaire”
Everything you need to know about Cactus Ed’s in there
part-time ranger, part-time writer, die-hard desert rat
born a hundred years too late and a long way off the map

And he wasn’t one to sugar-coat when he had a point to make
If it rattled someone’s cage that was just icing on the cake
He said “Society’s like a stew and it’s good to stir the pot
otherwise a lot of scum starts rising to the top.”

In matters of the heart Ed was always passing through
I don’t want all the girls, he said, just all the ones I do
Some say a roving eye was what kept leading Ed around
But I’d guess it was something just a little lower down

There’s worse things you could do
than take Abbey at his word
They still ring loud and clear
and they’re still worth being heard
Be rebels with a cause; fight for ground you love
Take solace from the wilderness
but leave it like it was

Now somewhere in the desert a lone coyote howls
The rattlesnakes are restless, the mountain lion prowls
The spirits are afoot, take comfort in the thought:
Somewhere out there tonight the ghost of Edward Abbey walks

CAN YOU SEE THE MOON
Can you see the moon from your window
As clear as I see it from mine?
Above the blue shadows between us
It hangs like a shiny new dime.
I wish we could spend it together
On some mid-summer night souvenir
To give us something to remember
Long after this night disappears.

BRIDGE:
The sun has gone over the hill.
The stars are beginning to show.
They’ll stay out all night long
Dancing ’til dawn with the lights
Of the city below.

Can you see the moon from your window
Through the lace of the sycamore trees?
Does it give you a faraway feeling?
Does it bring back a sweet memory? (BRIDGE)

Can you see the moon from your window?
Are you lost in that circle of light?
Do you lean on the sill the way I do
And think of one who thinks of you tonight?

CANNIBAL QUICKSTEP
Welcome to the world. I hope you like the show.
There’s lots of things to see and do, and places you can go.
When you get to the jungle, keep one eye out behind.
Watch out for the cannibals, they’re hungry all the time.

Listen to those native drums calling to your feet.
Don’t it make you want to go dancing in the street?
Just one word of warning – you better pray that you don’t fall.
One wrong step and there won’t be nothing left of you at all.

CHORUS
‘Cause it’s hang him high, lay him low,
Grab him where it hurts and don’t let go.
Back him up against the wall, raise the axe and let it fall.
Sell him out, steal him blind,
Run off with his wife if you’ve got the time.
Do anything that you have to do,
And do it before he can do it to you.

Come and choose your partner, they’re striking up the band.
The music you’re about to face don’t wait for any man.
When things start getting hot, try to keep your cool,
And try to stay one jump ahead, that’s the golden rule. (CHORUS)

Isn’t this exciting? Ain’t you glad you came?
Once you learn to dance your life will never be the same.
The music never stops and everybody knows
Dancing with the cannibals sure keeps you on your toes. (CHORUS)

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
When I get back to town I’ll tell her that I saW you
I know she’ll want to hear how you have been
She says the last she heard you had gone out to Wyoming
To try and straighten out your life again

She still lives in that house up the hill
Above the harbor
She still works in that little shop in town
And the times I’ve talked to her
She’s smilled that same old way
When she’s mentioned how you used to come around

CHORUS:
But she says it’s long ago, she says it’s far away
She says the past is just a memory
She says what’s gone is gone, she says life still goes on
She says the times will be what they must be

Most of those old faces drifted on to other places
It’s a different crowd out on the avenue
It’s a changing of the guard, and change can come so hard
If it happens when you least expect it to
CHORUS

You know, the last time I was with her
We went driving down the coast
And something she said is worth saying one more time
She said you have to make yourself let go of broken dreams
Before you can believe in any other kind
CHORUS

CONVERGING INTO ONE (co-written with Alisa Fineman)
I like to think of us back then
Before we ever met
Moving toward each other
With every step
Coming through the mountains
Where our sacred rivers run
Two trails in the wilderness
Converging into one

I see those distant ridges
That blessed our summer eyes
Blue and blue upon the blue
Beneath changing skies
At home in those high places
We watched the seasons come
Two spirits of the wilderness
Converging into one

Into one
Now we know what those who guide our steps have always known
We might not always be together but we’ve never been alone

As remote this wilderness is the chance we met
For which we are forever blessed, and blessed again

I stand within this moment
That calls through time and space
And gave us to the journey
That stood us face to face
I hear the faintest whisper
Like feathers falling on a drum
Two heartbeats in the wilderness
Converging into one

Into one
Now we know what those who guide our steps have always known
We might not always be together but we’ve never been alone
And we’ll always be together, converging into one
Converging into one

At home in those high places…
I hear the faintest whisper, we are not alone
We are not alone

CORNER OF MY HEART
Seems like the way in this old world
The best of things go by too fast
So much to do, so little time
Before it slips into the past
And so it was with you
In the time we had to share
Gone but not forgotten
Is the love that once was there

Now I’m wise enough to know
Sometimes love means letting go
Sometimes there’s nothing else to do
But it fly away from you
There’s other loves I’ve left behind
There’s other loves I’ve yet to find
But you will shine forever
As a diamond in my time

And wherever you go
May you walk in the light
May you rest in the promise
You’re not alone in the night
And though the miles come between us
And though the times keep us apart
You will always have a place
In some corner of my heart

DEATH AND TAXES
There’s only two things that are certain in life –
We hear this from the moments of our birth.
Death is the big one, taxes come second,
Though the order is usually reversed.
But to these I would make an addition,
Because in your case it’s certainly true.
There’s three things in life you can count on:
Death and taxes and me loving you.

CHORUS:
Death and taxes and me loving you:
Three things in this world that will always be true.
For better or worse we’ll be
There to see you through:
Death and taxes and me loving you.

Everything else is so uncertain.
Life is a very temporary compromise;
And this world ain’t no playground for sissies,
‘Cause nobody gets out alive.
But if you need a shoulder to cry on,
Or an ear to tell your troubles to,
I’ll be there to provide you a comfort
You sure won’t get from those other two. CHORUS

Don’t judge me by the company I’m keeping.
I refuse to be a party to their views.
The only thing we’ll ever have in common
Is an uncommon interest in you;

So when you need a shoulder to cry on
Or an ear to tell your troubles to,
I’ll be there to provide you a comfort
You sure won’t get from those other two. CHORUS

DEAR JANE
I hope you won’t consider me to be unkind.
Don’t think I haven’t had a wonderful time being with you,
But it’s over now, there’s nothing we can do.
Love has gone to hell but it’s just as well.
Hell won’t be so bad for the kind of love we had,
considering what it’s just been through.

For as long as it lasted it was sure great fun,
But now I get the feeling I’m just someone
You’re keeping around
For company when better friends are out of town.
I’d have to be blind to miss seeing the signs
That indicate my ration of your red-hot passion
Is starting to cool down.

CHORUS Dear Jane, So long.
I’m gone. Love, John.

Dear Jane it’s easy to see
The kind of game you’ve been playing with me;
And now that I know the score,
I’m not playing anymore.

I don’t exactly know how to tell you this,
But good-bye is a word I just can’t resist saying to you.
It’ll probably break your heart for a minute or two;
But you’re a big girl now and I know somehow
Your heart will mend, we can both laugh then
At the joke love turned into. (CHORUS)

DECOMPOSING THE BLUES
I didn’t wake up this morning;
I just lay there in the bed.
When I finally came to my senses
I realized I was dead.
No more problems.
No more worries about paying my dues.
I’m just gonna lay here ’til somebody finds me,
Decomposing the blues.

My doctor warned me this might happen.
He said I was pressing my luck.
I guess I should’ve been listening
But I was too busy living it up.
The party’s over,
But I think I can see the point
He was trying to prove.
There’s a very thin line
Between a really good time
And decomposing the blues.

Now I’m staring up at the ceiling
With a look of sober surprise,
And I’m having a lot of mixed feelings
Concerning my recent demise.
Part of me feels kinda foolish;
Part of me just doesn’t care;
And part of me’s glad I’m unable to smell
The aroma that hangs in the air.

I can see where my present condition
Might put a little cramp in my style.
I’m just gonna have to adjust
And hope I get used to it after a while.
It won’t be so bad.
The irony of it all is gonna keep me amused.
‘Cause, see, now that I’m dead
I’ll probably get famous for
Decomposing the blues.

EASY COME; EASY GO
Easy come, easy go, rolling with the punch will soften the blow
Of seeing your best-laid plans fall through the floor.
When bad gets worse and you find your dreams
coming apart on you at the seams,
Could be a sign it might be time to start
shopping around for more.

Some days you’ve got the magic touch,
other days your efforts don’t amount to much.
You simply do as well as you can do.
All you can give it is all you’ve go
so cross your fingers and take your best shot
And hope that it’s enough to pull you through.

Heads it’s yes and tails it’s no;
There’s rags and riches in every throw,
And the odds haven’t changed since the game of chance began.
Give a little ground, gain it back;
It’s no great loss if you don’t keep track.
One look at your feet will show you where you stand.

So make your peace the best you can
between Lady Luck and the Bogey Man
And learn to live with your heart pinned to your sleeve.
Life is short and time rolls on
and all that remains when you’ve come and gone
Is the crooked line of footprints that you leave.

EMPTY PAIR OF SHOES
His plane went down in the mountains. He did not walk away.
The story made the local papers,
But it was shoved aside the next day.
He was no one special, just a number in the news.
Now his memory walks with those who knew him
In an empty pair of shoes.

He never got where he was going.
He never made it home again.
He never got a chance to tell them one last time
How much he loved the people close to him.
And all the things he left unfinished,
All the dreams he’ll never use,
They all got lost inside his empty pair of shoes.

Now there’s his widow in the doorway,
She looks out across the hills,
Still waits for her man to come home,
Can’t quite believe he never will.
And there’s a baby in the bedroom,
Lots of toys that he could choose,
But all he wants to play with
Is Daddy’s empty pair of shoes.

FARMER
A planter’s moon had come again
And love knew what to do.
It found a fertile ground
And from its seed a farmer grew.
He came up tall and straight
Like a blade of prairie wheat,
And he found his promised land
In the earth beneath his feet.

His sweat kept him honest.
His faith kept him strong.
His heart kept him going,
And his laughter kept him young.
He kept his tools in order.
He carried his own weight;
And he made his life a lesson
In how to keep the furrow straight.

CHORUS
He said: Work when there’s work to do;
Play when it’s time to play.
Dance when the music moves you
And sow a little love along the way.

At the urging of his hands
The crops rose from the dust.
He trusted in the land
And the land returned his trust.
And he rode the wheel of seasons
‘Til the circle took him in;
And on the stone that bears his name
The words still speak for him: CHORUS

FOOL WHO WOULD NOT RUSH IN

She got away and I let her go.
I missed my chance. I moved too slow.
I’ve made worse mistakes,
But I don’t know when.
I was a fool who would not rush in.

My heart said hurry. My head said wait.
I hesitated; now it’s too late.
Some other guy is where I coulda been.
I was a fool who would not rush in.

So let this be a lesson to all the fools like me
Afraid to lay their hearts out on the line.
Don’t go holding back when you’re
Reaching for the stars;
You’ll end up empty handed every time.

Coulda been my name she calls at night.
Coulda been her arms that hold me tight.
But it does not good to think about
What it coulda been.
I was a fool who would not rush in.

FUNNY WHAT A LITTLE TIME CAN DO
It helps to melt the ice,
It urges pots to boil,
Persuades the eggs to hatch,
And causes fruit to spoil;
It gives the clock upon the wall
Some business to pursue –
It’s funny what a little time can do.

It gets me through my day,
It moves the fickle hand of fate;
It’s too long when I’m bored,
And too short when things are great.
It even does a trick I never
Thought that it could do:
It changes the way I look at you.

It’s funny how a little time
Affects a situation,
Throws a little light on thing,
And sharpens observation.
Things look so much different
When your eyes are open wide
To accommodate the picture
Some distance can provide.

It fades the photographs,
It puts wrinkles in a face;
It changes the neighborhood
‘Til you hardly recognize the place;
And sometimes it makes strangers
Out of people we once knew –
It’s funny what a little time can do.

GADGET DADDY
When your gizmo’s on the fritz,
When your whatzit calls it quits,
When your whirlygig won’t crank,
When your dohickey needs a yank,
When your gew-gaws get entangled,
When your dingle-bob gets mangled,

(Chorus:)
Bring it round to Gadget Daddy.
Don’t let misfortune give you fits.
Put your faith in Gadget Daddy
And his little bag of tricks.

When your mojo blows a gasket,
When your knick knack just can’t hack it,
When your dynamo gets lazy,
When your doodlebug goes crazy,
When your shebang’s lost its pop,
When your whatnot don’t do squat, (Chorus)

Gadget Daddy he’s a walking wonder.
He’s a cool cucumber, he’s a smokin’ joe.
Gadget Daddy he’s a jack of diamonds.
He’s your go-to guru when you’ve got to go.

When your wizzy wig is jinxed,
When your curlicue gets kinks,
When your ju ju’s out of juice,
When your caboodle needs a boost,
When your whatchacallit fizzles,
When your do-dads don’t do diddle,

When your baubles needs some polish,
When your trinket’s been demolished,
When your thingmajig won’t start,
When your humdinger fall apart,
Whatever ails your whatchagot,
You-Know-Who can help a lot. (Chorus)

GIRL OF MY DREAMS
The girl of my dreams the year I turned sixteen
Was an angel sent to Kansas to be our homecoming queen,
But just to prove how cruel love can sometimes be,
She thought she was too good to even look at me.

Oh, but I didn’t blame her none. I knew that she was right.
I knew she was too pure for the things I thought at night.
I tried to pray to Jesus to cleanse my wicked mind,
But when I wrestled with the Devil, he threw me every time.

CHORUS
Girl of my dreams I always think of you
Whenever I’ve got a dream I’m hoping will come true.
Girl of my dreams, thanks for the memory;
If it hadn’t been for you I don’t know where I’d be.

In the romance of my mind I was the hero of the day.
She’d fall into my arms and I’d carry her away.
But the daydream always ended
And I never got the chance to do
Any of the things I did in my dreams to prove my love was true. (CHORUS)

So I loved her from afar and I suffered love’s despair
And I waited for the miracle that would somehow make her care,
But it was all for naught and I lost her in the Spring
When I heard she had to get married to the captain of the baseball team.

Girl of my dreams I guess I always knew
The dream would have to end if it ever did come true.
Girl of my dreams, I hope you’re happy where you are,
I hope your dreams did not end in the backseat of that car. (CHORUS)

HAPPILY EVER AFTER
She goes to her room, she sits at the window,
Watching the street from behind a closed curtain.
Afraid of the strangers, afraid of the future,
Afraid of whatever she can’t know for certain.
In her lap is the shoe box, inside are the letters,
Cracked at the creases and yellow with age.
And not a day passes she doesn’t go through them
Gazing at ghosts past the words on the page.

CHORUS
It isn’t at all like she thought it would be.
Where is the sunshine and laughter?
And where are the love songs and rainbows
Happily ever after?

Endlessly blaming herself for the failure
She calls the pain to her again and again.
And it comes in the night like that long ago lover
Who slipped away taking tomorrow with him. (CHORUS)

Now the long years have turned to unwatered flowers,
Dead from neglect where she just let them stand,
And drowning in memories behind a locked door
She clutches the letters like straws in her hand. (CHORUS)

HARD LUCK MINE
INTRO:
Used to see him out on Highway 93 hitching rides.
Just an old man in an old coat;
And when he heard you coming
He’d turn and hold out his hat
By way of asking you for a lift.
He had a claim up on Deep Crick;
And the gold was there all right;
He just never managed to put a hole
Around very much of it.
People say all that searching
Without the finding
Made him a little crazy;
But if he was crazy, then
So is anyone else who ever had a dream
They refused to give up on…

He left his home in Buffalo when he was seventeen,
And chased the prairie sun into the Rocky Mountain skies;
But the colors that he saw in that Montana canyon dust
Turned the sun to just a pale reflection in his eyes.

So he fell to the task of nailing down a rainbow,
And season fell to season like leaves carried down the wind,
And the fever fanned the fires of his passion and desires
But pocket change and promises were all it held for him.

CHORUS
It was a hard-luck mine on the Lincoln County line.
It stole a young man’s heart; it haunts an old man’s mind;
But it cannot touch the light of the dream that burns so bright,
The dream that calls his name in a never-ending game
Of Here-I-Am-Find-Me-If-You-Can.

He searches through the shadows in the heart of Bighorn Mountain,
And they say you can hear him singing in the night up there sometimes.
In town the mothers warn their children: Don’t you dare go near him;
And no one looks him in the eye too long for fear of what they’ll find.

The rat feet write their passing on the dusty tunnel floors.
The scaffolds and the sluice box stand rotting in the sun;
And deep inside the mountain the rusty tools lay
Waiting in the darkness for someone who never comes. (CHORUS)

Now there’s an old man by the roadside and he’s flagging rides to nowhere.
He says he’ll be a rich man the day he works his mine again.
He says his pot of gold just sits there for the taking,
And he’s just one last powder charge away from the rainbow’s end.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN
I see her face in the motel lobby.
I see her face by the restaurant door.
I see her face in the neon glare
Of the 24-hour convenience store.
I see her face by the truckstop payphones
A thousand miles from her home town.
She’s smiling just like nothing happened;
Her eyes are green this time around.

(Chorus:)
Have you seen this woman?
Take a good look at her face.
She stepped out her front door one day
And disappeared without a trace.
Have you seen this woman?
She might be anywhere out there.
Keep a lookout in your travels
And maybe say a little prayer.

It’s a town like any other.
It’s a day like all the rest.
She gets up and has her coffee,
Puts on her favorite yellow dress.
Later on her next-door neighbor
Sees her driving down the avenue,
Then a hole opens up in the middle of a life
And flesh and blood falls through.(Chorus)

…For Amy Betchell
For Rachel Charles
For Stephanie Condon
For Jennifer Brown

All we know is she went shopping,
After that the picture fades.
The clerk says she came in alone
And left with milk and bread and eggs.
They found her car in the parking lot
The keys in the ignition,
But no one saw or heard a thing
Which might arouse suspicion. (Chorus)

…For Madelyn Clifton
For Kristen Hatfield
For Sandra Keller
For Jessica Cain

Do you ever get the feeling
We’ve fallen from a state of grace?
You look around your neighborhood
And you don’t recognize the place.
Listen to the minutes ticking,
Look into a stranger’s eyes,
Ask each other what kind of world
Would eat its tender young alive?

I see her face in the motel lobby.
I see her face by the restaurant door.
I see her face in the neon glare
Of the 24-hour convenience store.
I see her face by the truckstop payphones,
A thousand miles from her home town.
She’s smiling just like nothing happened;
Her eyes are green this time around.

Have you seen this woman?
Have you seen this woman?
Have you seen this woman?
Where is Trudy Appleby?
Where is Amber Barker
Where is Amanda Dixon?
Where is Loren Easterling?
Where is Sabrina Eisenberg?
Where is Nicole Hendrix?
Where is Jennifer Hull?
Where is Amanda James?
Where is Morgan Kroos?
Where is Christen Lamb?
Where is Mary Love?
Where is Crystal Marler?
Where is Rachel Mellon?
Where is Deborah Palmer?
Where is Laura Reyes?
Where is Alexia Reale?
Where is Michaela Schafer?
Where is Chere Tomayko?
Where is Deborah Wooten?
Have you seen this woman?
Have you seen this woman?
Have you seen this woman?

HEART HAS A WILL
Oh, I did not see it coming
No, it took me by surprise
I looked up one day and it hit me
just like a bullet between the eyes
It wasn’t supposed to happen
No, I thought I’d learned a thing or two
I thought I knew how to keep my heart out of trouble
But I was not ready for you

CHORUS:
Oh, my heart has a will of it’s own
And I can’t make it leave love alone
Don’t know how many times I’ve had it remind me
Of something I should have known all along:
My heart has a will
My heart has a will of its own

I should’ve headed for the nearest exit
I should’ve hit the streets on the run
I should’ve tried to get my heart out of there
before any damage was done
but you smiled and I hesitated
and I felt myself starting to fall
I tried to explain about the tears and the pain
but my heart wasn’t listening at all
CHORUS


HEAVEN
Let us say there is a heaven
And we all go there when we die
Let us say it is a place
Somewhere out there beyond the sky
A jewel shining through the darkness
In shifting hues of blue and green
Just as we’d imagine heaven
Just like photographs we’ve seen

Now let us say your hour had come
And you had slipped the coils of time
There to find that paradise
Was the same world that you left behind

If as below it were above
Would you feel at all betrayed
By the stories you’ve been told
By the god to which you’ve prayed

Is this a heaven you desire
This garden burdened with our needs
Plundered by rapacious hands
Until little’s left but sand and weeds

I think the gods are far away
And no more real than fairy dust
I think by now it should be clear
Heaven’s fate depends on us

If as below it is above
Somewhere the line between them blurs
No one knows but like as not
We’ll get the heaven we deserve

HERE’S TO CAFES I HAVE KNOWN
CHORUS:
Here’s to cafes I have known;
They’re almost like my second home.
The welcome mat is always out,
The soup is always on.
Here’s to midnight ham and eggs,
And juke box tunes and waitress legs,
And a cup o’ joe to keep me going
When the road gets long.

I can’t count how many times I’ve found myself alone,
Driving down the highway somewhere far from home.
It’s the life I’ve chosen and I mostly like it fine,
But sometimes I get lonesome for the things I left behind.

That’s when I know it’s time for me to seek familiar ground,
So I let up on the gas and I gear my engine down,
And start looking for the lights of a certain little place
Where I know I’ll always find a friendly face. CHORUS

One look through the window tells me all I need to know
‘Cause some things never change no matter where you go:
The coffee pots, the local cops, the burgers on the grill,
And the gal that calls me “Honey” takin’ money at the till.

I grab a corner table and let myself unwind,
Soak up some local color and forget about the time,
Read the hometown paper, have one more piece of pie,
Then go out and give the road another try. CHORUS

HOLE IN THE WORLD (For Ben Francy)
I was talking to a friend of yours;
We were on the phone a little while ago.
I asked her how you were doing these days
And she said, “Didn’t you know?”
She said it happened one day last winter.
You were driving in to catch a plane.
There was ice on the road and a gasoline truck,
But at least you never felt any pain.

I just sat there for a minute
Not wanting to believe my ears;
And I thought about all the times I meant to call
But didn’t these last few years.
Your friend kept right on talking
But her words sorta faded out
And left me alone, holding the phone,
Wondering what it’s all about.

CHORUS
The mountain has not moved
And the river still runs.
The rain still falls
And the dawn still comes.
It’s the same old world
Outside my door
But there’s a hole in it now
That wasn’t there before.

If you turn the clock back far enough
It’s the summer of seventy-nine.
I was the lookout man up on Johnson Rock
And you’d bring up the mail sometimes.
I’d open us a bottle of red
And we’d hang out on the catwalk stairs,
Talking a bout books and people we knew
And what we’d do if we were millionaires.

The story never gets too complicated:
Just a couple of guys who were friends,
A few summers up on the hill
Then one year it finally came to an end.
I went back to Seattle
And you stayed on in that Oregon town,
But I don’t think either one of us ever thought about
Burning any bridges down. (Chorus)

So when the road took me under its wing
I always thought that I’d see you again.
I even came back through the valley one fall
But you’d already moved by then;
So I got your address and number
And I filed them away in my book.
Hell, there’d always be plenty of time.
Nothing’s lost if you know where to look.

Some lives are longer than others
But we all have to give up the ghost.
I like to think there’s just enough time
To do what matters the most.
I guess that means you were ready,
But that’s not much comfort right now
In this room that’s a little too empty
And this silence that’s a little too loud. (Chorus)

HOMEGROUND
I went back home to see my family.
I’d been gone far too long.
My mother looks a little older now;
My sister’s kids are nearly grown.
My brother lives the next town over.
By all accounts he’s doing fine.
My father’s buried up in Kansas.
He died Thanksgiving 1989.

CHORUS
There is a lifeline that runs out across the land,
Straight from the heart of this quiet little town,
Like the stem of something that is blooming in my hand,
Rooted in the soil of this home ground.

We all sat down to Sunday dinner
And I caught up on the latest news:
Who had died and who got married,
Who was pregnant, who had moved.
Then later on I took the car out for a drive
And rode around an hour or two,
Past all the old familiar places
That were once the only world I knew. (CHORUS)

I ended up down at the river
Watching the moon come through the trees.
I had a six-pack and a pistol, and I made a toast
To Auld Lang Syne with both of these.
Then I lay down and closed my eyes
And listened to the river run.
A night wind whispered through the willows
And said, “Welcome back, our native son.”

And old mister man in the moon,
He says to me, “You’ ve come so far,
And there will always be a little mystery
In how you got from here to where you are.” (Chorus)

I’M GONNA TAKE IT WITH ME
When it’s my time to go it’s not the dying that I mind
But I’m sure gonna miss some things I’ll have to leave behind
So I’ve thought the whole thing through
and I’ve decided what to do
I’m gonna take it with me when I go

I’m gonna take it with me over to the Glory Land
I know they say it can’t be done, but I’ve made other plans
I’ll have more than I can carry when I hear that trumpet blow
‘Cause I’m gonna take it with me when I go

I’ll say good-bye to my old walking shoes
And leave them here for someone else to use
All our stories from the road will add up to quite a load
And that’s what I’ll take with me when I go

I’ll hand down my guitar to someone else to play
May it take them just as far as it did me in my day
I’ll miss it when I’m gone but I’ll hang onto my songs
That’s what I’ll take with me when I go

No more shall I mingle with the many friends I’ve known
But I shall not forget the love and kindness I’ve been shown
The light of all those hearts will be a beacon in the dark
And that’s what I’ll take with me when I go.

I AIN’T GOT THE BLUES
I Ain’t got the blues;
I Ain’t got ’em bad.
I think they just might be
The worst I’ve ever never had.
I Don’t walk the floor;
Don’t moan and cry;
My life is great,
And you’re the reason why.

I used to be
Such a sorry case.
I couldn’t find a smile
That would fit my face.
Used to sing the blues
‘Til my well ran dry,
But I changed my tune,
And you’re the reason why.

(Chorus:)
You’re the reason why
The future looks so bright.
You’re the reason why
I sleep so good at night.
Ain’t a cloud in the sky;
Ain’t a tear in my eye;
I ain’t got the blues
And you’re the reason why

I Ain’t got the blues
That leave me cold.
These arms don’t ache
For someone to hold.
I ain’t feeling like
I’m fixing to die.
I’ve been reborn,
And you’re the reason why. (Chorus)

IT’S A FUNNY WORLD
Look at all these cars
Flying down the highway,
In a mighty rush
To get from here to over there.
Everybody staring straight ahead
And looking so unhappy.
Don’t they know it’s a funny world
That we’re living in?

Look at all these billboards
Trying to pick our pockets,
Trying to make us want
A lot of stuff that we don’t need.
We got so much already,
How come we’re never satisfied?
Oh, it’s a funny world
That we’re living in.

Funny how we all agree
That money can’t buy happiness;
Funny how nobody knows
How we got ourselves in such a mess.

Look at all these houses
Jammed so close together,
Like rows and rows of tombstones
From here to kingdom come.
People talk about the good life
And my god I think they mean it.
Oh, it’s a funny world
That we’re living in.

Funny how the world goes ’round
And leaves us all behind;
Funny how this funny world
an break your heart sometimes.

Look at all this progress
hewing up the scenery,
Paving over everything
That can’t get out of the way.
It ain’t a pretty picture
But we all see what we want to.
Oh, it’s a funny world
That we’re living in.
O it’s a funny world
That we’re living in.

IT AIN’T THE GAME
In the empty late night hour at the Koffee Kup Kafe
I was scrubbing down the dishes that had piled up during the day,
Counting all the ways that my misery was complete
When the door let in another down-and-outer from the street.

Well any other time I would have shown a bum the door
But this one had a look that I had never seen before.
It said he’d seen the best and worst and everything between
And it made me reach him down a bowl and dish him up some beans.

He looked me over good and said, “Son, I’ve been around.
I’ve seen lots of people whose luck has let them down,
And you look like a kid who’s got his back against the wall
So listen to someone who’s learned how to take a fall.”

CHORUS
“It ain’t the game, it’s how you play.
It’s laughing through the tears when things don’t go your way.
It’s looking on the bright side of every cloudy day.
It ain’t the game, it’s how you play.

Well he said, “I learned the hard way what life is all about.
What you put into it is what you get back out.
And time’s too short to waste on wishes or regret.
The best that you can do is make the most of what you get.” (CHORUS)

He finished off the beans and disappeared into the night.
I locked up after him and started turning out the lights,
But his words kept coming back and I can hear them to this day
And I use them as my own every time there’s hell to pay. (CHORUS)

JOHN LOVES MARY
Mary was the blushing bride. Handsome John stood by her side.
A picture of sweet wedded bliss, seal it with a kiss.
After the honeymoon love sang a little bit different tune;
It started chewing off their ears. Here comes the tears.

CHORUS
When the red, red roses and blue skies
Turn to bloody noses and black eyes,
And love’s soft whisper turns into a scream.
When the rainy day walks and satin sheet nights
Turn into knock-down, drag-out fights,
Maybe it’s time to wake up from the dream.

Mary’s got a new black eye. Invent another alibi.
Not the one about the door. It’s been used before.
This morning Mary felt all right,
But she don’t look so good tonight.
Must’ve caught a germ this afternoon.
Mary, get well soon. (CHORUS)

Johnny Boy’s got a heavy hand. He just can’t understand
How his Mother ever raised a son
Who could do what John has done.
And Mary plans to run away.
She packs her suitcase every day.
But she just can’t get it out the door.
What is she waiting for?

The neighbors look the other way
Their best friends don’t know what to say.
It’s better just to play along and pretend that nothing’s wrong.
John loves Mary, she loves him,
But they’ve both been looking a little bit grim.
Neither wants to be the first to admit the worst. (CHORUS)

LET THIS MIGHTY RIVER ROLL (Song For Glen Canyon)
Down among the redwalls
Where the canyon wrens once flew;
In this wilderness of stone
They called The Place That No One Knew,
Through a million years of grace
Before these little schemes of men,
Once there was a river.
Let it be there once again.

(Chorus:)
Let her go.
Give this river back her soul.
Let her waters be released.
Let this mighty river flow.
Let her go.
Restore that glory down below.
Let her waters be set free.
Let this mighty river roll.

There’s no music in this water
Washing slack upon the shore,
No joy in this light that cannot
Touch the canyon floor.
There’s just an ever-present question
Blowing in the desert wind:
Do we have it in ourselves
To let this river run again? (Chorus)

Do we want to be remembered
As the ones who who not stand,
Who would not raise their many voices,
Or join their many hands?
Or shall history record
That we were there to win the day.
We gathered at the river
And we would not go away.(Chorus)

LIGHT ON THE WATER
Pocket full of wages burning holes in my jeans
An island beauty burning holes in my dreams
Guess you might say it’s some kind of sign
Telling me there’s better things to do with my time
I’ve been up on the mainland much too long
The money wasn’t bad, but the job was all wrong
Three days ago I made up my mind
Hauled up the anchor and left it behind

CHORUS:
Now the sails are full and they’ll carry me down
To the diamond lights of an island town
A dark-eyed beauty and a bottle of rum
Waithing for me at the end of my run
The dolphins are racing off of the beam
I lean on the wheel and let her run with the stream
Big yellow moon rising out of the sea
Light on the water points the way home for me

A man can geet crazy every once in a while
And try to do things that just ain’t his style
Try to make more than enough to get by
He ties himself down and don’t even know why
Up on the mainland right about now
I’d be taking time out to wipe the sweat from my brow
This time tomorrow all that’ll seem
Like some kind of joke or just a bad dream
CHORUS

NOTHING TO REGRET
There are times I wonder, where would we be now
If hearts had not been broken, if love had been allowed
Would it have made a difference in the people we became
Or would the way of everything be more or less the same

It’s taken me all this time to clearly see the past
To see where we went wrong, to know why it could not last
We thought we had love cornered,
But it somehow slipped away
But there’s no shame in that, you know it happens every day

CHORUS:
And though it ended painfully, there’s nothing to regret
There’s nothing I would change, and nothing I’d forget
Any way I look at it I can see I was bound to win
It’s true I lost a lover, but at least I found a friend

It’s true I lost a lover, but you lost a lover too
We just tried too hard I guess like lovers sometimes do
And if we had the chance we might not
Make the same mistakes again
Ah, but I don’t think we were ever meant to be
Anything but friends
CHORUS

LOVE BIDS THE HUNGRY COME
Love is the arrow, love is the bow
Love is the moment the archer lets go
Love is the flight straight to its mark
Upon the unsuspecting heart

Love is the field that yearns for Spring
Love is the rain that washes clean
Love is the seed that lies below
Waiting for its time to grow

Love is the bread, love is the wine
Love is the grace by which we dine
The feast prepared denied to none
Love bids the hungry come.

LOVE MAKES ME STUPID
I’ve been investigating
A peculiar situation.
I’ve read the literature
And listened to the speculation.
I’ve gone into the field
To study it first hand,
Yet there remains a point or two
I still don’t understand.

(Chorus:)
Why does love make me stupid?
How can the heart be so cruel?
Why does that rascal Cupid
Like to see me playing the fool?

I’ve monkeyed with the numbers
And made lengthy calculations.
I’ve analyzed the spreadsheets
In search of explanations.
I’ve looked the contract over
With a most judicious eye,
But I never see the loop-holes
‘Til they’ve hung me out to dry.(Chorus)

I’ve consulted with my friends
But they don’t have a clue.
I’ve asked the crystal ball,
Please tell me what to do.
I even went to church
To see if God might leave a sign,
But all I got was, Kid, your guess
Is just as good as Mine. (Chorus)

So I’m developing a theory
About the human race
Wherein love is just another
Cream pie in your face,
And I’ve made a c-commitment
To the moon and stars above
To duck a little faster next time
Someone mentions love. (Chorus)

You know, I think I’m so smart
‘Til I get hit by his dart,
Then I end up playing the fool.

MEET YOU HALFWAY
I’ll meet you halfway, somewhere in the night
Look for me just past the moon, second star to the right
I’ll meet you halfway, in a dream we are having somewhere
And the two of us can go dancing
Among all our wishes and prayers

I’ll meet you halfway and you’ll know who I am
I’ll be the one with that look in his eye
The one with his heart in his hand
I’ll wear my favorite colors
You wear your favorite shoes
We can waltz to the edge of the night
And watch tomorrow come through

Oh, the sky is tied up with an indigo ribbon
The sun has gone down in flames
If we listen as hard as we can
We might hear the stars singing our names

I’ll meet you halfway
Just call if you think you’ll be late
There’s noplace that I have to be
And I don’t really mind the wait
I’ll meet you halfway
Come just as soon as you’re free
I’ve already saved you this dance
And time means nothing to me.

MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS
She was standing at the window, staring out into the rain.
The clock in the empty station sounded
Just like a blind man’s cane.
Midnight arrived on the hour, but the train was overdue,
And I was trying not to think about
What the night was coming to.

CHORUS
Another midnight rendezvous. Another good-bye coming true.
One more good idea gone bad.
One more happy ending up for grabs.

She sat down on her suitcase, and I leaned against the wall.
There was nothing left to talk about, the silence said it all.
She lit another cigarette and stared down at the floor,
And I swear she looked exactly
Like someone I had never seen before. (CHORUS)

I stepped out on the platform, and I looked off down the tracks.
In the dark a dog was barking
And a lonesome echo answered back.
I asked the night a question it’s heard a million other times:
How come we never see it coming
Until it’s already left us behind? (CHORUS)

MONEY
Your money doesn’t care about you
Just look at what it puts you through
You spend all your time chasing nickels and dimes
and one fine day you’re surprised to find
You’re dressed up in your Sunday best
laid out for your eternal rest
And all the money over which you’ve sweated and bled
doesn’t even know you’re dead

Money makes you big. Money makes you small.
Money gets you high. Money breaks the fall.
Money blows your horn and money makes you crawl,
Your money’s got you right where it wants you

Money tells you what you want to hear
It whispers funny ideas in your ear
like how much better you are than the other guy
so you deserve a bigger piece of the pie
It says that you’re a king among pawns
it tells you you can do no wrong
it says there was never anybody half as clever as you
and you’re just dumb enough to think it’s true

Money what we wouldn’t do to sweeten up the pot
Money who we won’t abuse to get more than we’ve got
Money it’s the stuff of dreams; the tail that wags the dog
A perfect substitute for brains or taste or God.

MY FATHER’S WILDEST DREAM
My father lived a quiet life
Of ordinary means,
Safe within the soft confines
Of comfortable routines.
As steady as the ticking clock
That measured out his days,
He walked a straight and narrow path
But I went the other way.

(Chorus:)
Cross your fingers.Place your bets.
See what tomorrow brings.
It could be argued I became
My father’s wildest dream.

I do not have my father’s eyes,
Nor were our views the same.
He gave himself to order
But I would not be tamed.
An unresolved transgression,
His misbegotten child,
A weed among his roses
That flourished in the wild.(Chorus)

I was with him when he died
One late November day,
But there was no exchange of words
Before he slipped away.
Thus it sometimes is between
The father and the son:
Strangers of a common blood
Without a common tongue.(Chorus)

MY SECRET OF SUCCESS
I do my business with the devil
’cause I’m not the gambling kind.
I pay the higher price
But it buys me peace of mind.
He delivers on the goods
And he gets them there on time,
The other guy will often leave me hanging.

The devil loves his line of work
And he does it very well.
He’s got his act together
And he knows his clientele.
And unlike the competition
He will service what he sells,
The other guy will often leave me hanging.

There isn’t any secret to my secret of success
Just give in to temptation, let the devil do the rest.
He gladly goes the extra mile to insure my happiness;
The other guy will often leave me hanging.

Oh sure, the devil’s got his faults,
but he’s steady under fire.
And he’s quick to improvise
as circumstances might require;
And when push comes to shove
he never seems to tire;
The other guy will often leave me hanging.

Oh but don’t get me wrong,
I try to keep an open mind.
If a better offer came along
I’d be the first in line.
Right now I’d even settle
for water turning into wine,
But so far the other guy has left me hanging.

NOW THE WORDS COME SO EASY
Years and years have gone
Since I promised you this song;
I don’t know why I’m writing it now.
I thought I’d seen the last
Of all those nights I passed
Attempting words my pen
Would not allow.

(Chorus:)
Now the words come so easy.
Where they’ve been this long
I’ll never know.
Now the words come so easy
And in a perfect world
You’d have heard them long ago.

They aren’t hard words at all;
Looking back I can’t recall
What made them seem
So out of reach back then;
But that’s what words will do:
They’ll get the best of you
Just by leaving you
With nowhere to begin.

(Chorus)

So here they finally lay,
The best that I can say
Set down in the plainest way I know:
Thank you for staying close
When I needed you the most.
And thank you more for knowing
When to let me go.

(Chorus)

QUIET HANDS
After all is said and done,
After my time has come and gone,
Let my life have been the scene
Of useful works and graceful things,
And I will rest with quiet hands.
I will rest with quiet hands.

READY TO RUN
I’ve been out all night, covering ground
Thinking things over and looking around
Well, I never really noticed it that much before
But this place just doesn’t feel like home anymore

Lately I’ve been feeling restless a lot
Hungry for something, but I don’t know what
I think these streets are losing their hold on me
This town just ain’t as big as it used to be

CHORUS: I’m ready to run, and I don’t care what direction
Ready to run before the hunger disappears
I’m ready to run if only for my own protection
Something tells me if I wait too long I’ll never get out of here

I don’t want to end up like some of the guys
Just letting things happen for the rest of their lives
Taking the first offer that walks through the door
Too tired, too bored, too scared to hold out for more
CHORUS

RULE NUMBER ONE
I used to be about as straight as they lace,
Not an inch off the mark, not a hair out of place,
Shoulder to the wheel, one eye on the ball,
The other eye glued to the clock on the wall,
But sometimes in the back of my mind
A little voice said: Son…

CHORUS
You’re gonna be in your grave one of these days
And it’ll be a little late to change your ways;
Now is the time to get your living done.

Everybody said I was doing just fine,
Pulling my weight, toeing the line,
but at night I’d lay in bed losing sleep
And it didn’t do much good counting sheep,
Seeing those sheep made me think about
What I had become. (CHORUS)

One day there’s gonna be
A knock at your door,
And it’ll be Mr. Death
Come to settle up the score.
He’ll say: Stop what you’re doing,
Don’t bother to pack.
The hearse outside
Don’t have a luggage rack.

It took a little while to readjust my sights
but one day I finally started to see the light.
I got off the treadmill, let down my hair,
Opened the window to get some fresh air,
Looked at my face in the mirror
And said: Rule number one: Now is the time
To get your living done.

SALVATION ANNIE
CHORUS
Salvation Annie, she’s got the Devil on the run,
Beating out the battle cry on her trusty drum;
An angel of the alleys that landed on skid row
To fight for these lost causes
That have nowhere else to go.

Standing in the corner with Tom the trumpet man,
Playing for the passers-by to fill the money can.
By nickels and by dimes the Lord He will provide;
He can open any purse, but not always very wide. CHORUS

And down at the mission the sinners see the light;
The smell from Annie’s kitchen convert them every night.
Never tell a hungry man he cannot live by bread alone;
That’s the one thing he won’t swallow
Even when he’s skin and bone.

She prays for the strength
To carry out her Master’s plan.
She prays for ten more hours in a day,
And for three more fingers on each hand.
Faith might move a mountain,
But even she agrees:
Prayers get answered faster
When she rolls up her sleeves.

On this end of the town the miracles are few.
She’d like to wait around for one,
But there’s too much work to do.
Empty souls and soup bowls that someone’s got to fill,
And Jesus gets the credit, but Annie foots the bill. CHORUS

SOMEONE IS WATCHING OVER YOU
Someone is watching over you.
Someone sees everything you do.
Someong who never sleeps;
Someone who plays for keeps;
Someone is watching over you.

Someone is listening to your thoughts.
Someone has keys to all your locks.
Someone keeps a dossier
That tracks your movements every day.
Someone is watching over you.

Before you go to sleep at night
Do you pray to see the light?
Do you beg forgiveness
For your multitude of sins?
Do you get down on your knees
And mumble your apologies,
And promise to be good
If yoy can just wake up again?
Someone is watching over you.

Someone will come for you someday.
Someone will carry you away.
Someone will pick a time and place
And you’ll disappear without a trace.
Someone is watching over you.
Someone is watching over you.

Someong who never sleeps;
Someone who plays for keeps;
Someone is watching over you.

SOMETHING THAT I ATE
I met someone tonight.
She knocked me off my feet.
We worked up an appetite
Then had a bite to eat.
I got home a while ago
But I can’t get to sleep.
There’s too much agitation down there
Where my two ends meet.

(Chorus:)
Oh, my! I wonder what it means.
Could it be I just met
The woman of my dreams?
Something in me somewhere
Got bent all out of shape
Either I’m in love
Or it was something that I ate.

My hands are cold and clammy
My eyes won’t focus right.
My knees have gotten weak
And my head feels kinda light.
Something very hot
Has set my heart on fire tonight.
Was it those enchiladas
Or just holding her so tight?

(Chorus)

Well, it never woulda happened
If I’d gone a little slow,
But my hungers ran away with us
And we just watched them go.
The last thing I remember
Were the kisses and the beer,
Then everything went blank
‘Til I ended up back here.

I hope I get relief
With this medicine I took.
I hope my vital organs
Get over being shook.
I hope that by tomorrow
I feel better than I look.
I hope I got her number
And I hope they fire that cook.

(Chorus)

SOMEWHERE TO BEGIN
People say to me: You must be crazy,
How can you sing (dream, love) in times like these?
Don’t you read the news?
Don’t you know the score?
How can you sing (dream, love) when so many people grieve?
And people say to me: What kind of fool believes
That songs (dreams, love) will make a difference in the end?
By way of a reply I say: A fool such as I,
Who sees a song (dreams, love) as somewhere to begin.

CHORUS
A dream is somewhere to begin
To search for something worth believing in.
If changes are to come
There are things that must be done.
And a dream is somewhere to begin.

Love is somewhere to begin
To search for something worth believing in.
If changes are to come
There are things that must be done.
And love is somewhere,
And dreams are somewhere,
and a song is somewhere to begin.

STONE BORN TO ROLL
Those warm summer nights in that little Texas town
Did funny things to a young boy’s mind
They put visions in his head about a world he’d never seen
And made him feel like life was leaving him behind
Well, I was seventeen, I had a hot Ford machine
And every evening when the sun went down
I’d crank up the engine, stomp on the gas
And go cruising down the highway out of town

CHORUS:
That road-tire whine out on Route 59
Was like music to my restless soul
Well, that was years ago but I am still flying low
I’m a stone that was born to roll

People used to tell me, easy does it kid
You’ve got to learn how to take life slow
But I did not have the time to listen to that line
I had too much to do and too far to go
So I justs waited out the day until I finally got away
But there were times when I thought I might explode
And like rolling dynamite I would go
Tearing through the night
To answer the call of the road
CHORUS

STUMBLE INTO GRACE
Sometimes I stay up all night
just to watch the morning light
chase the fading stars out of the sky
has there ever been so sweet a thing
as when that first bird starts to sing
and tell the world how great it is to be alive

The morning breeze smells fresh and clean
it reminds me of my boyhood dreams
so full of promise, so innocent, so grand
if I add up all my past mistakes
they come to one less than my lucky breaks
but that’s all it takes to prove I’m a lucky man

We all get where we’re going
we move a little closer every day
when all is said and done
lucky is the one
who has stumbled into grace
along the way

There’s little bits of paradise
in every corner of a life
There’s no such thing as an ordinary day
Oh, but you don’t have to take my word
just listen to that little bird
and see what an expert has to say


TABLE FOR ONE
At a table for one in a little cafe
I am having my dinner tonight.
Candles burn brightly and soft music plays
And the wine is a vintage I like.
I come here sometimes after the show
To get lost in this bustle and hum,
Content to be just a face in the crowd,
Here at this table for one.

I watch the young lovers make eyes at each other
In their own little corners of time.
I gaze out the window and smile to myself
At these little secrets of mine.
I think of old friends, and places I’ve been
And causes to which I have clung,
And I’m lucky to be in such good company
Here at this table for one.

I feel at home at this table for one
Where nobody needs a disguise;
And yes, I know how it must look to some,
But that’s just the shadows telling them lies.

At a table for one you just might be surprised
At how lively a party can be.
There’s always a couple of games to be played
Concerning the future and me.
There’s always a couple of laughs to be had
When I think of some things I have done.
There’s always a time for the moments to shine
Here at this table for one.

TANGLED IN A SPELL
The wood fire’s burning high again
my friends will soon be dropping in
The room will quickly fill up then
like so many times before
With songs sent up the chimney flue
along with talk and laughter too
The same old scene that’s always new
we ask for nothing more

Across the weathered windowsill
into the dooryard lamp light spills
Where kittens chase the their tails until
they’ve caught all that they can
Inside we’ll sit with feet propped up
sipping brew from old tin cups
No one wishing to interrupt
the moment now at hand.

Then someone sends a fiddle tune
spinning toward the rising moon
A mandolin joins in and soon
the music’s riding high
Like silver scattered to the floor
slipping out beneath the door
It seems to fill the night and more
than half a summer sky

Feet raise the dust around themselves
the dishes rattle on the shelves
We’re tangled in a spell
that leaves the world outside behind
A long way toward the breaking dawn
we’ll go then put the coffee on
And while it makes we’ll sit and yawn
and talk away the time

and in the stillness our voices rise and fall
like candle shadows dancing on the wall

From down the meadow now I hear
a greeting rise to meet my ear
familiar faces soon appear
and I step outside to see
My friends arrive I welcome them
we pile coats high on the bed and then
It’s time to roll up the rug again
and let the magic be.

THOSE PEOPLE
It’s a quiet little street in a quit part of town.
It was a nice place to live until those people came around.
Now mister you get nervous when the kids go out to play
And you worry about the wife who’s home alone all day.

You pay your taxes and you don’t bother anyone.
You go to church on Sunday and to ball games with your son.
You vote the party ticket, tend to business like you should,
And it burns you to see what’s happened to the neighborhood.

CHORUS
Those people, they’ve started moving in.
There’s no place you can go to get away from them.
Those people, they’re living right next door,
And thing’s ain’t gonna be the same around here anymore.

They’re always looking at you with those silly little grins.
They’re always coming on like we’re all the best of friends.
They wear those funny clothes and they talk funny, too,
And when your back is turned,
God knows what else they do.(CHORUS)

Someone oughta tell them their kind ain’t welcome here.
Someone oughta pull a few strings downtown
And make them just disappear.
There oughta be a law against those people coming in
To bother folks like you who don’t want any part of them.
There oughta be a law against the weirdoes and the freaks.
There oughta be a law against the screwballs and the creeps.
There oughta be a law against everyone but you.
Mister, then the world might stay the way you want it to. (CHORUS)

TOO-LOOSE LUCY
There was a girl named Lucy in the town where I come from.
And she had a reputation for being lots of fun.
She wasn’t very pretty, but the boys didn’t seem to mind.
They used to joke among themselves about how love is blind.

It was a well-known secret that she would not say no.
Lucy let the boys take her just as far as they could go.
And the girls who kept their noses clean
By waving them in the air
Called her Too-Loose Lucy and froze her with an icy stare.

CHORUS
Where has Too-Loose Lucy gone, we don’t see her anymore.
Grass has overgrown the path the boys beat to her door.
The hometown girls are nervous in the long, hot summer nights.
Love ain’t been quite the same for them
Since she dropped out of sight.

Lucy never saw herself crowned Princess Of The Prom.
A boy who got her never brought her home to meet his Mom.
There are girls that people talk to and girls they talk about,
One kind of love for fairy-tales and one for when the lights go out. (CHORUS)

Lucy left without a word, where she went is anybody’s guess.
She left all the boys restless, and the girls in a hell of a mess.
Who’re they gonna look down their noses at
Now that Lucy ain’t around,
And who’s gonna save them from the sins
That can stain a wedding gown? (CHORUS)

WHITEBARK
This is the life I have been given
These are the seasons of my time
And I am seeking out the light
According to design
I’ve weathered storms I cannot count
To make this world my home
In a place where small and twisted things
Can split the hardest stone

In one like me you might not see
Iow I have managed to exist
A fragile crooked rack of limbs
In terrain as rough as this
But to those who take their chances here
Experience has shown
That sometimes small and twisted things
Can split the hardest stone

So shed no tears of pity here
Spin no tales of tragic grace
Just let it be enough that life
Is blooming in this rocky place
It is the proof that seeds will grow
Wherever they are sown
And that sometimes small and twisted things
Can split the hardest stone

WILD HORSES
How long was I fooling myself?
How long was I living a lie?
Telling myself it doesn’t matter
I let all those chances go by.
If it were mine to do over
I’d blow off the doors to begin
The lion would roar; the eagle would soar
And wild horses would come charging in.

So many good things disappear;
so many good friends get away.
So much precious time can be lost
squandered on needless delay.
Everything turns on the moment.
Is it ever too late to begin?
The slightest of moves
brings a thunder of hooves
And wild horses come charging in.

When I dream I am never too old.
I have not yet bought into the lie.
The world is a wild and beautiful place
and fear has not clouded my eye.
Sometimes when I wake in the morning
I’m not sure which world I am in,
But I take it on faith I’ve come to a place
wild horses come charging in.