Lyrics for the album Tower To The Moon
Tower To The Moon
As I build it up come and climb it with me
Away from broken pieces on the ground
Up there with the view we can be free
Of the toxins that can pull us down
I was walking on chunks of broken green glass
Put together in a random way
I walked and I stumbled a bit too fast
Fell to the ground to my dismay
Tower to the moon
Tower to the moon
Takes a dose of old and new
To build that tower to the moon
Build that tower up to the moon
It took some time but now we know
More than one good way to fly
We rise up from the old ways and go
Look down from the starry sky
Tower to the moon
Tower to the moon
Takes a dose of old and new
To build that tower to the moon
Build that tower up to the moon
Nothing is impossible to do
When I build that tower up with you
Pieces of our world are coming together
When we build that tower together
Tower to the moon
Tower to the moon
Tower to the moon
Lost And Found
By the old safe I'm the lost and found
Big dusty box where the maids never came around
Tonight's the night they close this old hotel down
Don't mind me I'm in the corner I'm the lost and found
I've watched her working usually late at night
She's taking inventory herer and her man had a terrible fight
She's playing with my view masters when the owner's not around
Don't mind me I'm in the corner I'm the lost and found
Hey I've got view masters polaroid cameras eight track tapes
Not counted in inventory she just hid me behind the dirty drapes
This time next month they'll knock this old hotel to the ground
Don't mind me I'm going with her I'm the lost and found
Unemployed now on the wrong side of town
She told that man to cease his coming around
It's time for change and my goods are flea market bound
She needs changes too after her choices from the lost and found
He's blocked from the phone no more messages no hate
No begging for dope money no crashing kitchen plates
She has a better life on the outskirts of town
No rear view mirror for the lost and found
Bright Winter Star -- Instrumental
Underdog
Away from the stagecoaches the dark railroad
Forgotten deer trails where the runaways go
I'll cover their tracks while they sleep under logs
I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog
Unseen underdog
It's a world of danger right under the feet
Of slave drivers that kill over cotton and wheat
I know I'm right but the world around me stays wrong
I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog
Unseen underdog
I can't say much about where I've been
Not in your history books imagine the trouble I'd be in
Just let them think it's distant leaves shaking at dawn
I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog
Unseen underdog
You may see symbols a forgotten language
Very few can understand
Found where the shallow ones are not likely to impinge
Say hello when you cross into the fringe
In a deep south state it's mighty dangerous to disagree
With wealthy overlords of the land and the sea
But I know the forest even better than the wild hogs
I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog
Unseen Underdog
Winter Okra
There's nothing colder or more alone
Forgotten and neglected deep in the overgrowth
Than winter okra hanging out in the field
Shriveled dark and worthless
Stiff pods like steel
I feel like winter okra in a frozen field
Laying low under the ice hoping soon to heal
But as I spring across the floor
I'll come back from the edge
Ready to live some more
I woke up feeling like a discarded rag
In the cold dark hours with a damaged tag
But when the springtime comes around again
Seeds sprout fresh and new
For summer pods blackened in the pan
There's nothing colder or more alone
Forgotten and neglected deep in the overgrowth
Than winter okra hanging out there in the field
Shriveled dark and worthless
Stiff pods like steel
Shriveled dark and worthless
Stiff pods like steel
When We All Go Home Ⅰ
Is the soul forever traveling through the night
When we all go home
Or is it just a one time flash of light
When we all go home
Will time stand still or roll like the wind
When we all go home
Will we see nothing or everywhere we've been
When we all go home
Will we gather together are there rivers there
When we all go home
Will the sun dissolve the rocks into the air
When we all go home
Will we meet the ones that we've never known
When we all go home
Or are we scattered like new seeds are sown
When we all go home
Risen Phoenix Bird
Rise on risen phoenix bird
Up high in parallel winds
Something rustled all the trees stirred
Up from the land rise again
Once a fiery dinosaur
Later on a graceful gull
Time here means so much more
Gliding in your flock's central lull
Rise on risen phoenix bird
After a long hibernation
Following the sun say the word
Flying with a new generation
Swaying up and down with the breezes
Lighting up the orange sky
In motion before the land all freezes
The wind calls out to you and I
The wind calls out to you and I
Rise on risen phoenix bird
This is not the first time you were burned
When your right to this world is blurred
You are back to make sure the tide is turned
When they take you down
You always rise again
Like the mockingbird following me around
Singing all your songs my old friend
Singing all your songs my old friend
Singing all your songs old friend
Cold Distance
They taught me from childhood always hide that face
Bottle up your feelings keep your guards in place
When I think I've broken free emotion in a trace
I'm suddenly in cold distance suddenly up in space
Yesterday I took your call social challenge for me and you
Saw the caller ID and my fingers felt like glue
Pick it up and say hello the right thing to do
A short conversation then cold distance all around me grew
I feel a cold spot in the wall right where my hand lays
It's cold distance that's all all I can tell you at least for today
It's not that I can't talk I just run out of knowing what to say
I find a cold distance that makes me drift so far away
They taught me from childhood always stay alone
Keep to yourself your boundaries well known
When I think I've broken free all the pain is gone
I find the cold distance something I've not outgrown
Jittery Hourglass
Drops in a waterfall sand in the hourglass
The falls have run dry along with the past
I stood on these rocks over twenty years ago
Nothing's left currents cease to flow
There's a cool flea market up this mountain road
At the Georgia/Carolina line it's huge it stretches on and on
I know my map is right but everybody here is gone
Fallen down stands and buildings feels so cold and alone
It's a jittery hourglass living in the moment there's no time for fear
I can't trick the hourglass or turn back those years
That's the way it goes down that's what I have found
I know if I take a right well I'm kind of sure about where it'll go
Think i'll take the left fork I'm sort of lost you know
If I've hugged these mountain curves before I sure don't remember
A good way to ride out the blues that comes with November
Here's a nice new scenic overlook well it's new to me
Smokey mountain sunset looks like a distant sea
Time to find a place to crash up old highway eleven
Early morning campsites are gonna smell like coffee heaven
Jittery hourglass living in the moment there's no time for fear
I can't trick the hourglass or turn back those years
That's the way it goes down and that's what I've found
Sandcastles In Rain
I see lightning flash as the high tide's coming in
And I hear new rain swirling with the west wind
So from every direction comes the end for
Sandcastles in rain
Sandcastles in rain
My first time alone in the old motel got my key in the door
Had no idea I'd almost faint I nearly hit the floor
My legs were locked I couldn't move anymore
Sandcastles in rain
Sandcastles in rain
Picked myself up went out on the balcony
There were children and dogs playing by the sea
Then the rain rolled in the gulls moved nervously around the
Sandcastles in rain
Sandcastles in rain
Carry on carry on again
I get knocked down by the rain and the wind
We all go to the sand in the end we're just
Sandcastles in rain
Sandcastles in rain
I see lightning flash as the high tide's rolling in
And I hear new rain swirling with the west wind
So from every direction comes the end for
Sandcastles in rain
Sandcastles in rain
Mirror In The Dark
When I left here the mirrors were turned to the wall
Back home after twenty two years nothing's changed at all
Daddy died suddenly when I was only ten
Mirrors to the wall or souls get trapped within
It's the same way I left it here in 1901
No different than the day the funeral was done
I'm staring at the mirror sitting in the dark
Outside the children play while neighborhood dogs all bark
Nothing in the darkness scares me anymore
Not even unexplained footsteps echoing up through the floor
I'm staring at myself in the mirror in the dark
My brother stayed behind with mom to run this farm
Now I'm widowed just like mother got child hanging on each arm
We've no where else to go I hope they're up for change
Once again children's voices fill up the range
All thru the walls of this house
That sat like a forgotten lighthouse beckoning me back home
I'm staring at the mirror sitting in the dark
Outside the children play while neighborhood dogs all bark
Nothing in the darkness scares me anymore
Not even unexplained footsteps echoing up through the floor
I'm staring at myself in the mirror in the dark
Lyrics for the album Search The Universe
Caswell
You and I walk the same land and road
A different time same rooms long ago
I’ve so many questions-things to know
Did the changes come quickly or was time moving slow
Indian fall is upon us now
Haunted cotton fields surrealistic somehow
I know you watched closely
The pulpit called you from the plow
Looking back through the years
I know your range of choices now
Fear that rolls with so much loss
You kept the others from sinking down
Out West
I’ve got dreams to realize
the big sunset opened up my eyes
I know the money flows the best
The train lines run out west (2X)
See the Cirrus clouds shaped like candy canes
Thunder so loud hard pounding rain
I can’t sleep I can’t rest
The train lines run out West (2X)
The Sun’s going down like a red balloon
Mining town destination soon
restless rambling in protest
The train lines run out West (2X)
Down in the diamond mine
My pockets full I’m feeling fine
I’ll drink the wine that’s best
The train lines run out West (2X
miners’ spirits in a daze
We float underground lost in a maze
I’m Going Home so well dressed
When the train pulls in from out west
When they meet the train at the station from out west
Aw the trains all run, the trains all run out West
Down To It
It’s 1889 and it’s a dreary valentine’s day
There’s 500 pounds of bacon out back and the undertaker’s on his way
With his big black wagon and horses to take my husband away
He’s out in the well house, his two oldest see him, and I can’t look away
[ Don’t know what to say, I hope that wagon gets here today]
Pigs are slaughtered, fields plowed, store is stocked for Spring
He’s dead at 38 years old no one can say a thing
What am I supposed to do with this farm, store and land?
My brother in law he’s taking over, meanwhile my youngest three cannot understand
[they’ve never seen a dead man, much less their dad]
(Chorus)
When it all comes down to it, we’re really all alone
Dreams get buried in the ground and life just keeps going on
Life just keeps rolling on
I never knew my daddy no picture on the wall
Mama told us so many things, he was so brave and so tall
Dad never came back from the war, his body was never found
In Virginia, where we’ve never been, that’s where the battle went down
[where the civil war battle went down]
Momma cried in the dark sometimes, my older sister too
I didn’t cry, I never understood what I should do
How to feel about the first thing taken away when I was born
Since that day seems black is the main color I have worn
[losing everybody since the day I was born]
[Chorus]
When it all comes down to it, we’re really all alone
Dreams get buried in the ground and life just keeps going on
Life just keeps rolling on
Race With The Devil On US One
I have no clue why the devil chases me
On that long cold road with the orange moon hanging in the trees
Spring time Deep Down South but it’s 27 Degrees
Empty produce stands shiver in the moonbeams
Scarecrows guarding nothing but the frozen ground it seems
Pinch myself reminder this is not a series of dreams
A Different sort of demon lurks by the State Line
I have nothing in the world to hide-but I’m a profilers dream outline
Orange turns to daylight Ice on the Highway signs
I have no clue why the devil chases me
On a long cold road with the orange moon hanging in the trees
Spring time deep down South but it’s 17 degrees
Spring time deep down South but it’s 14, 12, 10 degrees
Ghost Train
Thought I heard something in the breeze
Late last night while everybody slept except for me
And I know I heard something moan
When it started to rain I was outside alone
just as real as you and me I saw the ghost train
At the point when the lightning stops and the thunder remains
then she faded into the slow night breeze
the steam melted into the warm summer rain
My first glimpse of the ghost train
Put a chill right up my spine
To see it there just like a footnote out of time
Even though it’s been here before
Every now and then since before the civil war
And the conductor tipped his hat to the sky
No passengers looked back as the train started to fly
Then she faded into the slow night breeze
the steam melted into the warm summer rain
farewell for now to you ghost train
Search The Universe
My name is Alice Oxendine
I have a baby girl at a very wrong time
1882 is rough on a poor Lumbee
Indian Girl and white baby like me
sic: (sure hope she passes for white)
I walked from the country made it to town
Nobody tried to turn us around
I’m eyeing that big porch from the old cattle gate
In the pitch black morning they’re not awake
I’m hiding by the tall loblolly pines
So welcoming in daylight, bright sunshine
But now their limbs look like shaking arms
Like they think I mean this baby harm
sic: (oh no, I’d never do you any harm little one)
Four in the morning there’s a shooting star
we made it to the porch and front door, wasn’t far
Sat her in her blanket, turned the doorbell, ran away
oil lamps came on with very little delay
What have I done, Am I right or wrong?
I Search the Universe, still I don’t know if I’m right or wrong
My heart is full of fear, eyes overrun with tears
I just want you to have a better life, I have nothing they can give you all you need
run, run, keep on running Search the Universe, tell me what I’ve done
Universe tell me what I have done
Mystery Jane
Grey stone at twilight
As the morning greets the Eastern Sky
We played hide and seek now I play alone
I can’t find you now, you’re just a grey stone
Momma cried and said Jane’s not coming home
Grey stone at twilight
I thought of us playing in the magnolia tree that night
a lady watched us from the road
I think I saw her smile then cry, but I don’t know
I saw her yesterday staring at the Grey Stone
Grey stone at twilight
Where did you come from? A lost Stork in flight?
Yes sister we’re different but we are the same
my eyes softly blue, contrast your golden flames
I wonder so much about you Mystery Jane Mystery Jane
Last Time Gone
The old grey door the paints falling down
Hinges so rusty make a God awful sound
Paint chips are floating all over the town
Breathing in the lead Rip Van Winkle lays down
sandstone walls wind knocks them all around
Dust mixed with ozone all over the ground
Foundation bricks go from orange to brown
Back to the mud in the rain soaked town
Old rusty wires feed a silent telephone
Train track to the past is broken and overgrown
I missed it’s roaring heyday I was busily alone
Now it’s kind of late to wake up The last time gone
The old grey door the paint’s falling down
Chips at the old bus stop from 1950 on the ground
I slept through it all in the silent little town
Just like Rip Van Winkle I Never heard a sound
Atlanta
Twelve Peach trees in a row
Doesn’t matter which way I go
Don’t tell them you know me at all
Just some eccentric Uncle’s picture on the wall
[chorus}
Don’t tell them you know my name
Nothing about my claim to fame
I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago
I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go
In the old days Athens was a bootlegger’s paradise
Fast cars and dirt roads to the state line where it was dry
That’s why the sheriff never forgot my face
I can’t sit still for long in this place
(chorus)
Don’t tell them you know my name
Nothing about my claim to fame
I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago
I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go
I visit Mom calls me somebody else
Dad still won’t talk looks at his pistol on the shelf
You’re the niece my first time to see
I’m going away before the blue lights catch up to me
(chorus)
Don’t tell them you know my name
Nothing about my main claim to fame
I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago
I’ve not been here out the back door I go
I pick a highway from downtown
Ease away without a sound
If bounty hunters do come forth
I elude them in the mountains to the north
I’ll lose ‘em in the mountains to the north
(chorus)
Don’t tell them you know my name
Nothing about my main claim to fame
I disappeared in Atlanta long ago
I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go
I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go
Like A lost ghost in the breeze down the road I go
Lyrics to the songs on Down To It
On A Train Somewhere
Sitting down in a room full of People
staring at the fifth wall
in the middle of a loose conversation
I’m not there at all
On A Train Somewhere winding thru the night
Lonely as a Russian graveyard cold Siberian fright
On a train somewhere rolling across the land
All the way from Fire Creek to the Sahara’s burning sand
Looking thru the mirror in the window
I hear the locomotive call
Tighten up your mask you can board the train
or stay frozen to the wall
(repeat chorus one)
Moving thru the day like a stranger
He performs the toil and task
Still seeing something different in the evening
out from under the mask
(chorus two )
On a train somewhere trying to get back home
Cruising in to my own space-peaceful time of the gloam
On a train somewhere natural world (earth) rolling by
taking it in a personal pleasure from the tracks to the sky
Looking around at all these people
They don’t know me at all
When they stare because I’m not one of them
I turn on the elusive protocol
(repeat chorus two)
Alone In The City
I’m alone in the city walking around out in the air
I’m home it’s just my mind rambling somewhere out there
So still the traffic lights change and click make such an eerie sound
Just like a bullet- make you hit the cold hard ground
(chorus)
Floating down the alley where I cannot go
Time moves surrealistically so slow
Hard to imagine no gun no knife around the bend
Wake up premonitions there’s no time to misspend
no time left to misspend
I’m alone in the city it’s much too still for the wind
Wonder when it’s over can I call my long lost friends
The buildings are like mirrors to the future and the past
Calm before the next storm I hope these streets can last
(chorus)
Skin And Bone
Well some got a little, some got a lot
Some are living in the cold, others where it’s hot
There are people out there that own more buildings
Than in a lifetime they could possible roam
People on the street can’t even find a home
(chorus)
Taking it down, taking it down, taking it down to skin and bone
Taking it down, taking it down down down down down to skin and bone
You’l never take it with you when your gone
Taking it down, taking it down taking it down to skin and bone
See the lady walking with her children at her feet
Thru the city traffic, the back country fields of wheat
Here today, tomorrow they’ll be gone
Heading back up the country side to find a place where they do belong
(chorus)
Now I’m taking myself back down to the land
walk the dusty backroad feel the burning sand
change my way of living back down to a simpler mode
take the compost down to the sandy land
lighten up the load
(chorus)
All I had to eat today was a bowl of butter beans
Hoping tomorrow for a plate of turnip greens
I know I should eat more balanced but I’ve got an unbalanced mind
Thinking about the Highway and the state of the yellow line
(chorus)
Down To The Line
I woke up this morning to political math again
Forget about science it’s alternative public sin
Looking for a change tired of the outrageous
Wing to wing don’t let gullibility be so contagious
(chorus)
I don’t want to go down to the line
I don’t want to go down there to the line
Nothing ever seems to quite add up at the line
We can’t be together we used to just disagree
Now they’ve painted a broadband picture of you and me
Don’t hide all the papers just tell the truth
Nothing hidden nothing ranted nothing uncouth
(chorus)
You stand around all day line never moves
They call you crazy for having the gall to disapprove
Do they even care anymore about what they do?
End of the line and all they want to talk about is taking it all from you
(chorus)
Castle
I’ve seen it there before-way back so many dreams
A day’s worth of breezes-so much wind another planet so it seems
You don’t have to push or rush no need to rush for the Magical scenes
Where we are in the beginning from the end- so serene
(chorus)
When the continents roll around and become one
When the clouds show us heaven with the rising sun
Build your castle from the Earth where wild herbs grow
Looking upward to the sky for that wonderful glow xxxxx
Living where it’s all blue gold and purple Gold and purple and green
Where darkness has it’s own color has it’s own color so cool and clean
No time or need here to worry no time to worry-about the material strings
They use to hold us to the wrong side to the dark side the worthless fling
(chorus)
And when their mission burns it all down
From the deep fall out never a sound
They’ll not see us looking or hanging around
We’ll be where it all rebuilds one little village one little town
Then the Earth will go back green again
You’ll hear the birds you’ll hear the frogs right then
No noisy planes up in the sky
no reason why for them to fly
Clothes Line And Rain
Don’t say nothing about the clothes line
Don’t say nothing about the rain
Just keep breaking all the rules
Or they’ll drive you insane
If conformity is the industry
linearity is the trade
keep us lined up on the shelf
give us a mark down grade
(repeat first verse)
Whatcha gonna do when the farms are gone
Nothing left for you to eat
all the people you did away with
were laying food down at your feet
(embellish)
Don’t say nothing about the clothes line
Don’t say nothing about the rain
I see things differently than you
so don’t try to stop the rain
so don’t drive us all insane
Some see a bad thing
I see a nice second rinse
I won’t stay quiet for anyone
I won’t sit silent by the fence
Sunday Has A Soul
We’re all in one plane 1/4 second in time
We felt the Universe give off a low key chime
Ancient sundials beckon to the stars
Outlining patterns of the Universe totally unscarred
(chorus)
No pain today no rush no pending goal
Whether plate one or seven Sunday has a Soul
Whether peace comes from the Church yard, a garden or a hedge
Sunday remains the time to keep us well within the Universe’s edge
Keep us grounded within the Universe’s edge
I wish I could read the stars in the deep night sky
I see their patterns, but I fail to tell the reason why
Moonbeams light up in silver on my garden walls
The message is slow down number seven for us all
(chorus)
Vines Take It Down
Haven’t seen you drive by lately in your rusty old 70s vintage Cadillac
skipped out on half a payroll I’m guessing you ain’t coming back
(chorus)
Vines take it down
Mother nature takes it back
Trees are gonna pull the chemical soaked brick down to the ground
Your old trains will de-rail from the track
That big sprawling factory you and your friends bounced around in late night poker games
Everybody in four towns around here tried to work in there but they couldn’t it made them sick bent their moral frames
(chorus)
Vines take it down
Mother nature takes it back
trees are gonna pull that nasty brick down to the swampy ground
your old acid trains are gonna derail from the the tracks
(refrain)
Your wall were tall, so cold and mean
more dirty smokestacks than anybody around here has ever seen
now they’re falling down with the growing trees
Mother Earth's gonna bring that fortress down to it’s knees
(chorus)
Vines take it down
Mother nature takes it back
trees and vines are gonna pull that big quiet brick to the ground
your trains are gonna de-rail from their tracks
Crooked Wheel/November Rain
(Crooked Wheel)
Crooked wheel spinning wheel (2X)
Wobbling all around you regardless of how you feel
crooked axle, crooked bent axle see how it rolls (2X)
Warp us all down warp us to the Soul
(November Rain)
Cold ice hitting the ground
cold rain take over the town
I hope it rains and beats the pollution down
hard rain to turn us back around
November rain come pouring down
all day you hear it pound
November rain steady and slow
every drop keeping up the flow
every drop keep up the flow
we all know how it’s got to go
I don’t mind the icy rain
break a cycle that’s been insane
let it flow and make it loud
say goodbye to the darkest cloud
say goodbye to the dark dark cloud
say goodbye to the darkest cloud
November Rain come pouring down
All day and night you hearing it pound
November Rain steady and slow
Every drop keep up the flow
every drop keep a steady flow
Every drop keep up the flow
and we know how this is got to go
We know how it’s got to go
Four December Poets
I find myself with the Eastern Star
Long nights waiting and traveling so far
Cold dark night climbing up the hill
What to say the first thing I feel
All around me is truth nothing hides
Stars light up the sea and the cold hillside
I’m an open book so pick a tale
All thru the Winter the Seas I sail
Time is nothing to the deep dark night
A Moon is sleeping for the festive star light
Frost on the Pumpkin ice in the trees
December nights keep awakening me
I feel the bustle and I hear those crowds
My Soul seeks peace where nothing is loud
December’s my time to meditate
Commercial World and I separate
The trees and the stars I understand
It’s how we’ve roamed all over this land
I pull it together at number four
Another life rambled like so many before
A common theme to take away
Society has killed a true holiday
I need no lights in my distant trees
That bright cold sky lights it up for me
Words to songs on the album, "Box full of Rainbows"
Mike bailey acoustic guitar, national steel body guitars (2,3,9), panpipe (7) Electric guitar (5)
all songs copyright 2020 stark forest music, ascap
Jupiter's moon dance:
so good to see the night sky right here with you no city haze to ruin the lights and your eyes
reflect the brilliant view
chorus:
nothing i'd rather see
nothing i would rather do
nowhere i'd rather be
than watching jupiter's moon dance with you
night sky so velvety black against the crisp white stars
neptune often pays a visit along with venus and mars
(repeat chorus)
so many people will never see the crisp winter stars
i get to share it with you constellations look close
but they are so far away
(repeat chorus)
BOX Full of Rainbows
I'm on my own like a magician with the oldest tricks
watching the planet waiting for the rain to fall down
fast and thick
i won't sell out to the other side
the lonely places where they all like to run and hide
let loose the air waves i'm bound to cut through
when the time comes around i will put on my dancing shoes
chorus
Box full of rainbows all saved up for the massive rains
ready to let those colors shine aging away like the finest wine
ready for the proper sign box full of rainbows
secrets of the moon they are like a double ferris wheel
we're looking all around and we're never quite sure how we feel
one day we'll be just some old musty photographs
withered down like the wild weeds out there on the path
for those looking back through the all seeing eye
wanting to know the way wanting to give the same kind of try
(repeat chorus)
Where is my home:
I stood on the shore watching the waves break
watching the gulls fly against the blue sky
& I tasted the salt in the cool ocean air
while the sun went down like it was descending some stairs
and i looked into the darkness and out came the moon
and the stars with their mission to lighten up all the gloom
and i saw the pattern silhouette with the shore
and i asked where is my home
is it here for evermore
I read all about your famous melting pot
the books failed to mention the haves and have nots
your statue of liberty stands so tall and green
i wish i could tell half the stories she's seen
your factories hum with the industrial age
they turn out books all with a missing page
the breeze turned cold and the sky turned grey
and i ask where is my home is it here i should stay
i turned my attention to the trails heading inland
got tired of tripping all over the cold cold sand
met up with the fishermen and i tried their rough ways
i left that existence after a few scraggly days
so i boarded a train headed away from the coast
life on the homestead so many good points to boast
and the sun turned red and the sky turned green
and i asked where is my home this is just like a dream
Hamlet train:
should i head back in time to heat up the cold spots on the rail
is there strength to find in opening up a long lost trail
fire up these engines turn the wheels again
don't say i am too old to make it home
to go back home again
chorus
i wanna go and ride the hamlet train
life is moving away too fast
see the hobos out in the cold cold rain
kicking around the broken glass
broken whisky bottle glass
they kicked it so long
they're just about insane
staring up with broken eyes
at the passenger train
<sic: don't stop here no more>
life's treasures i hold close
in the present future past
nothing stays around forever
you just let those freight trains roll on past
If i could see through these eyes
without constant pain
then i'll know i am a railway spirit
looking for
looking for that long lost passenger train
(repeat chorus)
<sic tickets tickets tickets tickets!!!!>
bridge
I've got old photographs
wild stories to make your children laugh
lunches and suppers too
wild nights full of country blues
Rocky road home:
here and there and everywhere
i've been driving this old truck
all along the countryside
on my way to run and hide
from the life i knew before
from the old revolving door
chorus
hey this whole era has come down to it's end
so i'm starting on the rocky road back home again
rocky road back home old friends
ask me for reasons and more
I ran so far from my past
vietnam was like a vinegar wine
but i came home to a bitter find
from the life i knew before
and it didn't mix up so well
with orange dreams about that war
(repeat chorus)
the mountain:
well i bought myself a beat up dodge and i filled it up with gas
took the old road out of town and avoided the whole bypass
tried to get back a long gone feeling but you can never go home again
oh it's such a pity the condition this road is in
chorus
do you remember the mountain
and the spring where the water ran so free
now there's just a big fat managed community
over there where the spring used to be
we'd come up from the foothills with our water jugs
get water from that mountain the water that we all loved
then one morning the highway machine showed up and
blasted down the peak
everything is such a pity now the mountain side so bleak
(repeat chorus)
that old dodge ran hot and i got lost
outside of gainesville town
finally found a service station
that wasn't boarded up and totally closed down
he patched up the radiator and sold me some cider too
whoa kid come back later for a quart of that mountain dew
(repeat chorus)
Ezekiel/valley of the bones
(Ezekiel section)
where are you going tonight you won't be alone for long
some where they are hanging around where nothing is going on
tell me ezekiel where can you go
too old for the playground but much too young to knowe
chorus
so you breathe fire into the night
but your friends cast no shadows and they fade
listlessly with the early morning light
you never had a friend in all your reckless life
now they are all around you cutting into you
with one silver knife
they'll leave you cold and alone pale and dry
first and last things they tell you you know it'll all be lies
(repeat chorus)
where are you going tonight you won't be alone for long
somewhere they are hanging around with nothing going on
tell me ezekiel where can you go where can you go whoa whoa whoa whoa
(valley of the bones section)
as i walk down through the valley where nobody else can go
i walk down there through the valley of the bones
and i see the things around me here that nobody else has known
way down there in the valley of the bones
rise up old souls and go no one will ever know
you are not there in the ashes you're in the sea
you're in the sky in the air and you're everywhere
rise up now from the valley of the bones
old motor inn:
saw you with your doors wide open
wrecking ball crashing in the parking lot
so many years gone like a mystery
i try to hold on to the things i'd
forgotten all about
I went through a wall of old boxes
trying to carve out my own space
you hit me like a crashing helicopter
matchbook and receipt from that 1960s place
hey they want that up on e bay you oughta list it
you might get rich
but i'm looking for a clear way out
a clean departure without a hitch
there's one match left in this matchbook
i've been holding onto it since 1968
a big spooky building that once was a paradise
now eagerly meets it's final fate
I light the match it burns kind of slow
that annoying little blue burst and now it's gone
i just let go of what was holding me down
and now i know i was not wrong
First wall of the mule barn:
Where do i find you along side myself
got my own good nobody else's wealth
just us and the wagon are beating it down the road
the mules are tired and now it's time to unload
chorus
first wall of the mule barn is going up
working in the dark and i'm drinking from an old clay cup
it's not level not pretty and i don't even care
200 years gone by it might even still be there
200 years gone and somewhere it's still out there
I hope the bloody wars are over
don't look back just roll in the cool clover
the pine is fresh the mules are young
my store is busy and my well has sprung
(repeat chorus)
b side 45:
finding the story to make us all dance
around the table what a glorious chance
make it fast make it flow one minute and 59
to please the masters of the radio
time keepers of the radio
chorus
after my late night dream i feel so alive
i composed a b side 45
with scratches and wobbles and mysterious dark grooves
rca dog in the victrola horn never making a move
never ever made a false move
so capitol with it's orange and yellow swirl
half apple traveled just about around the world
big yellow sun always brightening up the scene
always the b side left on the old machine
always the b side on the old machine b side 45