1. |
Souvenir
03:37
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CLOSE THE FRONT DOOR
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF
TRADE YOUR WANDER-LUST
FOR MY ITTY BITTY FIRE
CUZ I'VE BEEN WAITING
FOR YOU TO REMEMBER ME
IT'S A HARSH WORLD
SURE CAN BE A COLD PLACE
IF YOU DON'T HAVE SOMEONE TO KISS YOUR FACE
WHEN IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
THERE'S A WHOLE LOT OF REASONS
TO KEEP YOURSELF FAR AWAY
IF WE CALL ON THE ANGEL OF LOVE DIMENSION
I WONDER WHAT SHE'D SAY
I KNOW THAT OUR LOVE
WON'T SAVE THE STARVING AND BROKEN
AND I DON'T FORGET THAT WE'RE ALL LITTLE CRYSTALS
SHATTERED TO THE GROUND
I DO WHAT I CAN DO
I TRY TO REMEMBER TO REMEMBER TO REMEMBER
THAT THERE'S ALL THESE LITTLE PIECES I JUST CAN'T SEE
WAITING TO BE FOUND
I KEEP ON SWEEPING
I KEEP MY EYES OPEN
PLANT SOME ROSES IN THE GARDEN
AND WHISPER YOUR NAME TO THE MIDNIGHT SKY
CUZ WITH YOU I FEEL REAL LOVE
I HAVE TO THINK IT'S A GREAT BIG LOVE
IN THIS LITTLE LIFE GAME
WE COULD DO A LITTLE DANCING
TO SOME OF OUR OLD SONGS
WE COULD MOVE TO OUR HEARTBEAT
THERE WE DON'T GO WRONG
I'M GONNA MAKE US SOME HOT TEA
MAYBE SPIKE IT WITH A LITTLE BIT OF YOU LOVE ME
THROW A TOWEL ON THE LAMP
CUZ IT'S WAY TOO BRIGHT
WE'LL TURN AND WE'LL TURN TIL WE TURN THE NIGHT
INTO OUR THING
OUR LITTLE BITTY LOVE THING
IT'S THE POWER-OF-TWO THING
IF YOU DON'T COUNT CHANCE
OR MAYBE THE NOTION THAT SOMETHING WATCHES OVER
ALL SUPPOSED TO BE LOVERS WHO'VE LOST THEIR WAY
I'M GONNA BLOW OUR COVER AND SAY
THE ONLY THING LEFT TO SAY
CLOSE THE FRONT DOOR
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF
TRADE YOUR WANDER-LUST
FOR MY ITTY BITTY FIRE
CUZ I'VE BEEN WAITING
FOR YOU TO REMEMBER ME
Copyright Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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2. |
Never Your Own
05:04
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What you dream in the morning, may you dream at night
May your love light be so bright it diminish the darkness
that comes without warning
And in no particular way
and threatens to blow you away.
You can pray to a flower or a bird on the line,
What’s clear in the mirror twists with cheap evening wine
Still, those sweet running creek beds seem
to show up on time
And keep you from blowing away
I wish I could tell you all the pain’s in your head
That it all would be better if you’d just do what they said
But if the voice that is talking is never your own
Then who’s going to tell you that you finally come home.
Me, I’ve run with the big boys and I’ve lain in their dirt
It’s the same sorry story and we all have been hurt
by the Truth that we carry and the truth that flies by
And the distance between them is the sweet by and by
We’re born to a body that is destined to die
And we wail at that moment ‘til we learn to say ‘why’
Is it me, am I the only one who suffers this way
that’s when the glorified game goes to play
In the wind there’s a story, in the trees there’s a song
In a friend’s touch there’s so much,
makes you want to live longer
And do a little something that might soften the blow
With your arms wrapped together you say baby I know...
Copyright 2004 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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3. |
Already Gone
04:45
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There’s a field there’s a field
I can go to and lay down to
When I need to have you close
In the quiet in the quiet of the moment
I can feel you all around me
You’re the wind that blows
Everybody loves someone a little bit harder
Everybody cries sometimes a little bit more
Everybody waits a little longer in the shadows
Than they should
In the cruel of the city streets
I think I see your face
And then you disappear from me
I pull my jacket up around my neck
Try not to think about the times
When you were holding me
I know we had our stories
And this time they’re not the same
We’re walking different avenues
Towards our losing game
Can’t say it doesn’t hurt
To be a number not a name
Walking backward through the memories
Until the hometowns look the same
Are you already on that bus and gone?
Is it me you're running from?
Or did our love shine a little more
Than you counted on?
In the mirror when I’m looking in the mirror
I can safely see the traces of my own mistakes
I still hope I’ll be a someone for somebody
Get it right and win my insides straight
I hope you’re somewhere, baby,
where the waters flow
That’s where I’m heading
And you never never know
Love is bigger than the sky above
Or the sacred ground below
And just because we say it’s so
Doesn’t always make it so
Are you already on that bus and gone?
Copyright 2004 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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4. |
Girl on a Road
06:56
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My momma was a waitress
My daddy a truckdriver.
The thing that kept their power from them
slowed me down awhile.
I remember the morning
that was the closing of my youth,
when I said goodbye to no one
and in that way faced my truth...
and a walk along the river...
and a rain a'coming down...
and a girl on a road.
There's a rhythm to a highway
to match the rhythm of your fears.
My shopping bag possessions
scattered with my splattered tears.
A string of nights in truck stops
in darkness and in lies
and a man they all called Tigerboy...
he just had to show me why.
He just had to give me something
I'd forever understand...
as a girl on a road.
Rain upon the water makes footprints sunk in sand.
Anger upon angry hurt, take me by the hand.
Take me by the heartstrings and pull me deep inside
and say I'm one with your forgiveness and separate from my pride.
I don't know what it's like for you
but here's what it's like for me...
I wanted to turn beautiful and serve Eternity
and never follow money or love with
greasy hands, or move the earth and waters
just to make it fit my plans.
My eyes would be the harbor,
my words the perfect place
for a girl on a road.
I met you in the Summer, I left you in the Fall.
In between we did some living...
I like to think that's all...
but now I see words can be like weapons
no matter that they're small,
and I used three tiny words on you
and then beat it down the hall.
Does this road go on forever?
Does this terror know no end...
for a girl on a road?
Rain upon the water makes footprints sunk in sand.
Anger upon angry hurt, take me by the hand.
Take me by the heartstrings pull me deep inside
say I'm one with your forgiveness and separate from my pride.
You cannot measure what it takes
to mend a withered heart.
They'll tell you at the onset everybody does their part.
I did my best to follow the calling of my soul.
But, it's like that first guitar I played...
at the center is a hole, at the center is a...longing...
that I cannot understand
as a girl on a road.
But if music be a boulder, let me carry it a long while.
Let it turn into a feather, let it brush against my smile.
Let the life be somewhat settled
with the life that song has made.
Let there be nothing I am longing for
in some plan I may have made,
in some story quickly written
during a long forgotten time
as a girl on a road.
Rain upon the water makes footprints sunk in sand.
Anger upon angry hurt, take me by the hand.
Take me by the heartstrings pull me deep inside
say I'm one with your forgiveness and separate from my pride.
Copyright 1995 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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5. |
The Cart
04:39
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The strap that holds
the cart in rein
Has been let loose
by wearing thin
By wearing thin,
by biting through
The shift in power
leans to you
And the cart is on a wheel
I've wept with joy
for the things I've done
And I've wept as hard
for what I left undone
For what I left undone
For what I couldn't deem mine
For what I thought was yours
And so I drew the line
And the cart is on a wheel
And the wheel is on a hill
I heard someone fall
I saw another one flail
I saw an arm dig deep
Where there was no rail
Well there is no rail
And there's no 'because'
Though the body be strong
The Spirit is law
And the cart is on a wheel
And the wheel is on a hill
And the hill is shifting sand
And inside these laws we stand.
If we are lives
and souls to keep
If we are Love,
I hope we do not sleep
I hope we do not sleep
I hope we stay our ground
Hold fast to the Mother
as she turns us 'round.
'Cause the cart is on a wheel
And the wheel is on a hill
And the hill is shifting sand
And inside these laws we stand.
Hold fast to the Mother...hold fast.
Copyright 1990 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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6. |
It Won't Take Long
07:56
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They said some men would be warriors and some men would be kings
And some men would be owners of land and other man-made things
And false love as the eternal flame would move some to think in rings
And gold would be our power and other foolish things
But you who dream of liberty must not yourselves be fooled
Before you get to plea for freedom, you've agreed to being ruled
If the body stays a shackle then the mind remains a chain
That'll link you to a destiny whereby all good souls are slain
And it won't take long, it won't take too long at all
It won't take long, and you may say
"What has that got to do with me" and I say,
"You mean to tell me that's all?"
Of three men in a desert wandering, one is knowing and two are scared
They say time is in the river, but the river is not there
Dry in spirit dry in body two will lend themselves to death
And in grief one weeps into his hands and drinks his bitter tears
'Cause it don't take long, it don't take too long at all
It don't take long, and you may say,
"I don't know what you're talking about," and I say
"You mean to tell me that's all?"
And as I stand before you now, I am hopeful in my rage
You know love has finally called for me, I will not wilt upon its stage
But still smaller than my nightmare now do I print upon the page
Do we have to live inside its walls to identify the cage?
'Cause it takes so long, why does it take so long,
But it takes so long, and you may say,
"I don't really care what you're talking about," and I say,
"Are you trying to say you don't belong?"
I am my mother's daughter, but I have seen myself in you
It's this blessing that I follow now, and so I must speak true
I dreamed of thousands dying, it was you and you and you,
And while the city sleeps so quietly there is something we must do
And it won't take long, it won't take too long at all,
It won't take long, and you may say,
"I don't know if I wanna know what you're getting at,"
And it makes we wanna say, "So long."
Because grief will come in measures, only grief alone will know
And you'll see it on your family, on your own face it will grow
And they'll try to keep you hungry, then they'll tell you to eat snow
You know pride can be a moving thing if we learn the strength of "NO!"
And it won't take long, it won't take too long at all,
It won't take long, and you may say,
"I don't think this has anything to do with me,"
"But did you ever think you could be wrong?"
At noon on one day coming, human strength will fill the streets
Of every city on our planet, hear the sound of angry feet
With business freezed up in the harbour, the kings will pull upon their hair
And the banks will shudder to a halt, and the artists will be there
'Cause it won't take long, it won't take too long at all,
It won't take long, and you may say,
"I don't think I can be a part of that," and it makes me want to say,
"Don't you want to see yourself that strong?"
Division between the peoples will disappear that honoured day
And though oceans lie between us, lifted candles light the way
Half will join their hands by moonlight, the rest under a rising sun
As underneath the sun and moon, a ritual'd wailing has begun
And it won't take long, it won't take too long at all,
It won't take long, and you may say,
"I don't know how to be a part of what you're talking about,"
and it makes me want to say, "Come on!"
And beware you sagging diplomats, for you will not hear one gun
And though our homes be torn and ransacked we will not be undone
For as we let ourselves be bought, we're going to let ourselves be free
And if you think we stand alone, look again and you will see:
We are children in the rafters, we are babies in the park,
We are lovers at the movies, we are candles in the dark,
We are changes in the weather, we are snowflakes in July,
We are women grown together, we are men who easily cry,
We are words not quickly spoken, we're the deeper side of try,
We are dreamers in the making, we are not afraid of "Why?"
Copyright 1983 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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7. |
Shadows on a Dime
05:18
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This window makes a perfect frame
For New England leaves like painted rain
They hold me as I hold this train
All shadows on a dime.
You move forward fast by holding back
You gauge your steps and you don't look slack
Me I'm looking backward down the track
To see us dreamers in our prime.
I poured my soul in Santa Cruz
I ached all night,
Next day I lost my shoes
It's so optional what you may or may not lose
in this pattern we call time.
Fifteen years ago I worked the line
With a thousand more all doing time
While a foreman smiled complicit crime
We were strangers to the plan.
An old old woman ran the gears
She couldn't move
They said she'd been there forty years
...I think that's rude...
'Cause forty years is forty years
And I was only fifteen then.
The work waged war upon our backs
But we gauged our steps and we didn't look slack
One day the old woman didn't come back
I couldn't work so well and they let me go.
But I don't forget about the factory
I don't expect this ride to always be
Can I give you what you want to see?
Can we do it one more time?
Ten years have worn this guitar down
Its ivory whites are now mustard brown
Its face bears cracks from every town
Still it resonates with age.
Where would I be without its ring?
Who would I be if I didn't sing?
For half a chance you spare nothing --
A tethered bird to a tethered cage.
I sing to you to feed the dream
I call to you 'though it's a muted scream
We're one on one projected beams
Translucent future be our sage.
Five years have blazed since she warmed my side
She is my gift I've loved and cried
With her level look she is my guide
A spirit on the wing
Our love has jostled like this train
Or like the moon to wax and wane
But to know somebody worth the strain --
Me I have one gift to bring
I cried for her then I let her down
She let me go and then we came around
I felt us new and I felt the ground
And I felt myself believing.
And now a tired conductor passes by
He takes my ticket with a sigh
I don't think he meant to catch my eye
But he doesn't turn away.
He says "I have a daughter as old as you
And there's really nothing anyone else can do
Do you play guitar...well good for you
Me I play the violin"
I imagine him with his hair jet black
Does he hide his fiddle in the back?
He gauged his words as the train went slack:
The New York train stops here
But I don't forget the factory
I don't expect this ride to always be
Can I give them what they want to see
Let me do it twice --
The second time for me.
'Cause these windows make a perfect frame
For New York buildings like upright trains
They hold me as I hold the rain
Fleeting shadows on a dime.
Copyright 1983 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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8. |
Our Purpose Here
04:29
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It’s a quiet street in someone’s town
On stranger’s feet I mark my ground
I trace my circles round and round
I ‘m sworn to find me
In a party scene
and I’d just got loose
Its my devil’s luck to be introduced
To one who takes their shape like you It unbinds me
We knew we wouldn’t have everything
And time proves it true
I’ve got a flat-top six
dressed in steel strings
And I don’t have you
You wouldn't like the life
And I couldn't want you to
There’s a secret in this solitude
As my love unfolds
I find it’s often crude
I call you late and my words intrude
And I falter
But the miles don’t shrink by telephone
The crackling wire becomes our home
I tell you I’m okay alone
And then I wonder
I’ve got towns ahead and shows behind and I won’t be lost
I join my name to that solid line though it always costs
it takes my time it fills my mind
And it feeds the ghost of
Memories in the quiet heat
When our words were trim
And our hope was neat
We said our purpose here
Was to be complete with ‘I want you’
It’s a woman’s dream this autonomy
Where the lines connect and the points stay free
We said passion as an open sea would only haunt you
I watch the last cab turn its headlights down
To today’s sunrise
I must have wanted you in every town
And it’s no surprise
that want alone don’t sit you down
By my love eyes
I’ve got memories in the quiet heat
When our words were trim and our hope was neat
We said our purpose here
Was to be complete with ‘I want you’
Copyright 1979 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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9. |
Highway
06:27
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the moon's on full
fm
full moon
the speaker in the sky
she's loud and wise
and the highway I'm on
is shimmering
the signs shudder
there’s one more strand of light
one last wisp of the wand
before night
the highway I'm on
is shimmering
the streets are bare
everyone's tuned to the glare
it's just me, street
wind and hair
the highway I'm on
is shimmering
I'm writing with my hand covering the light
so my friend can still see when she drives
turns are fast
changes too
I still have a patch over my eye
over you
the highway I'm on
is shimmering
long live the Sparkly Queen
she came from the east
and rests in the west
like me
the trees are like claws
coming by
they're Ozark stark
black on blue
I still have the aftertaste of you
the highway I'm on
is shimmering
there's something about these streets
how they fuel us
Copyright 2008 Capital B Music (BMI)
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10. |
||||
Up the misty mountain
Wild flowers bind the ground
Down by the rushing river
Force will wear those boulders down
Me I'm underneath my covers
Me I'm trapped inside my brain
While up above the misty mountain
Up above the rushing river
Up above the bed of longing
The eagle takes the wind
The eagle takes the wind my friend
The eagle takes the wind
It makes me think of this my friend
Where does the eagle live in me?
O I am crawling through this city
I say the city will be my home
I say Ferron you are halfway pretty
And may you never be alone
Be it scorn or be it favour
Be it but a moment gone
But I stood before the mirror
Like an open-ended cavern
Like a breath held inhaled, holding,
And I barely knew my name
I barely knew my name my friend
I barely knew my name
It makes me think of this my friend
Where do I live in me?
O it's a planet of resistance
It's a whirling flame of choice
Are you my comrades in persistence
I swear they'll know us by our voice
Though we lay down in dusty corners
We are ragged as a scar
And when we rest our eyes stay open
We are always off to war
We're always off to war my friend
We're always off to war
And it makes my think of this my friend
Where can the quiet be?
O is it up the misty mountain
Where wild flowers bind the ground
Is it down by the rushing river
Where force wears those boulders down
Is it underneath my covers
Is it trapped inside my brain
Is it up above the misty mountain
Is it up above the rushing river
Is it up above the bed of longing
Where the eagle takes the wind?
Copyright 1976 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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11. |
Shady Gate
06:01
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When I was young the mom next door
Would have tea at our house
And she said her heart was broke
she told me that life was based
On faith in the Evermore
But me I was always trying to find a way
To get a dime and go outside and play
It was pretty weird my childhood years
Especially with the transference
of those dreaded adult fears
And it is just today as I
feel my pent-up baby tears
That I remember a song
the moms would sing and we’d sing along...
“If you go through that Shady Gate
Have someone near who is for you
Someone who will not mind to wait
As you go slow through shady gate.”
He left my mom when I was ten
She said she didn’t give a damn
That they’d never amount to anything
They woke me up one night
In the middle of an awful fight
I heard him yell ‘What about my needs?’
And her hiss back “Why don’t you
wake up all the neighbours too
But please leave me be,
another kid would finish me”
And in the morning while I ate my cereal he left
I didn’t look so I didn’t see
And she got a better job in the new department store
And me I had to rush right home from school
and feed the kids They didn’t ask about him much
But I asked her once about ‘Shady Gate’
It was late one night
We were hanging out the laundry
She said that Shady Gate
Was when sweet time won’t wait,
It’s like when a choice gets made
Like a deck been laid
And maybe the sun will shine
Or maybe it won’t at all
But whatever is coming for you you get to have it all
And I wanted to ask her then exactly
what he’d meant by ‘needs’
But we had to rush inside
the winter made her
fingers split and bleed
he knocked upon the door before my next birthday
my mom looked real upset and she sent us out to play
And when we came back in
it looked like she’d been crying hard
And him he tried to hug us then
and he said he loved us all.
He said, “Anything you want
all you have to do is say”
And my mind raced to the
brand new pair of jeans
I’d seen at school that day
But you know that night when we slept the
monsters didn’t come
And I dreamt we sang the song out loud
only this time with a drum...
“If you go through that Shady Gate
Have someone near who is for you
Someone who will not mind to wait
As you go slow through Shady Gate”
I like the way you held your head
And how you muttered right out loud...
the things you said...
You were so serious and I didn’t believe at first
You saying there was still some place you had to go
And still some things you had to know
“Well, wash your face” my good friend tells me and
“Clean your house in troubled times”
I must admit It helps an awful lot
To go on loving what you love
You see I’ve even trained my mind
I’m not afraid to look behind
It’s a cool night falling
With the night birds calling
And I dare not wonder where you be
But it’s times like this I wish I had a line to mother love
Or just another word for eternity
Copyright 1978 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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12. |
In the Meantime
05:04
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So many people are so broken
and this story is broken too
we go looking for forgiveness
for things we did or didn't do
in our hearts we know we're goodness
in our souls we feel the call
to be someone for somebody
each other one and all
i have wept upon your mountain
i have walked upon my knees
i have crawled along the rubble
of broken promises and unmet needs
and the thing that i was looking for
and the thing i could not see
was the image of a perfect girl
the one i'd never be
oh my father how i've missed you
having never touched your face
and just like you i feel a sorrow
that time does not erase
when i cross over will you meet me
will you walk me to the bright
will you lead me on the dancefloor
of that ever-lasting light
in the meantime here on earth time
i am something of a song
but i once drank your whole abandon
wanting only to belong
now i walk beside the broken
a glass of water in my hand
and in the prism of their reflection
i see the once invisible man
you are with me as i love her
you are in me as i care
you have shown me not to hold back
knowing what is gone's not there
you have helped me to be tender
you have taught me to be true
i went empty up the mountain
and brought back a piece of you
Copyright 2004 Nemesis Publishing (BMI)
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Bitch Los Angeles, California
The longstanding queer music icon Bitch makes witchy poet pop. She does it with violins and synthesizers, and the songs she writes are spectral, heartbreaking, political, and beautiful. "Bitchcraft" is like Joni Mitchell set to a click track, it’s queer Cyndi Lauper. It’s neon pink, in your face, ready to hex you with its brilliance. ... more
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