Long Way to California

She landed New York City with ragged company

bent on California with a baby on her knee

but caught in the shirt works, saw more than she had seen

The hawks, the hookers, gamblers far cry from Aberdeen

it's a long way to California

It's a long, long way to California

Late one day for work

she never will regret

saw smoke from duffers jumping she never will forget

Young girls were burnt to cinders while caught in the rush

to find the exits locked while the bosses rode the plush

It's a long way to California

It's a long long way to California

"Those skirts were meant for dancing" 

men called up from the cut

no time to make correction she tripped up on a rut

when Molly hit the trolly, the newsboys stood and stared

now she's bound for California, with flowers in her hair

Chorus

 

Pine Boxes

I't's such a fine day

I hope you mean what you say

I've fallen in love with a far away plan

We'll make two pine boxes

steal away like foxes

we'll float down that river 'til they call out our names

They've got our wildness treed

we're shaking hands with the lead

and it wont be long for soon we'll be tame

And I'm hungry

are you hungering?

To feed your heart to the wind

Right or wrong 

It's night before long 

and the road knows a friend

I"m Taking my..  rambling ways

to lift my eyes from the maze

there's more to believe than what life can see

there's more to believe than one life can see

 

Hurricane Rain

I have seen the sound of the wind in the trees 

giving heaves like breathing

bending the trees down to their knees

'til theres no believin

Hurricane Rain drivin and freezing in the wild sky

a brisk and bright refrain

like you have heard the rain

have you heard the sound of a distant freedom

that you have never known for we are barely grown

waiting to be shown

Roads that stretch out

veins through the heart of endless ramblin

were fighting to be lost

were finding to be tossed

into a sea of ever changing faces

Hurricane rain driving and freezing in the wild sky

a brisk and bright refrain

like you have heard the rain

have you heard the sound of a distant freedom

Dont take me down to that river town

where things are slowly fading

there waiting to grow old

gimme a new skin and a true chin

I'm brazen to be bold

I'm begging to be told

for we are barely born

Grace Ain't Easy

When I was lost, I was so blind

Roller coasting in my mind 

had far to fall, from such a climb

Said I believed, I had no time

Said i believed, but I was lying

I had no time

And now I see that grace ain't easy

but its all... I want to feel

before the dark

And I will run away from dying

just like a child

Bring out your heart like its on fire

and let it bleed, under the sun

a lion's child don't think it's simple

to find his place up on the throne

'cause you could be headstrung with reason

and give it up, before the gun

like your'e the only one

don't think yourself as

as any better

for humankind is just a letter

in this tome

Time taking time to feel the placement

of your two feet upon this land

not being bogged down in your basement

with your demise at your command

and though I thought I

had met a wiseman

well he went scared

just like the rest

just like the rest

though there's one thing

to be sure of

just as minutes rule the day

time slips away

time slips away

 

Blind and Lowly

I don't want you feeling bad. Forgetting all the friends you had

An I don't want your reasons to be go write the book or shoot the movie.

I don't want your feelings bad.  To spite on all the fun we had.

We work so hard to feel this glad.

It's not for two

I don't want your golden cart.  Tethered to your leaden heart.

It's taking more than words to move me.

I listen when the sun shines to me.

I don't have to feel so old.  It's better for my heart I'm told

But not for you.

 

Sunshine will deliver us from the cold and restless rain.

Someday we'll be better off for the pain.  For the pain.

 

Don't forget to fall in love with the benedictions of everything that's right and holy

Imagine you were blind and lowly and the only sound you heard was a single morning bird

Singing songs to the sun

(chorus)

 

 

Rolling Jungle

I was lost, I was so blind. Roller coasting in my mind

I was a rolling jungle.  I was a rolling jungle.

Like a leopard low on a limb.  Sergeant Pepper from Gunga-Din

I was a rolling jungle.  I was a rolling Jungle.

 

I had a penchant for losing my mind from time to time

Dusted away to the blue lines roar

Hours were accidents waiting to find a rolling stone

Please put me back like I was before.

 

King's Corner to Kalamazoo Straight as the tail of a kinkajou

I was a rolling jungle.  I was a rolling jungle.

Like a leopard low on a limb.  Sergeant Pepper from Gunga-Din

I was a rolling jungle.  I was a rolling jungle.

 

Capitol Crow

You done your living and you seen it all

You quit the cigarettes and the alcohol

Have you learned that you can only rely on you own free will

Rebuilding bridges you burned It's the roads that connect us that always will

Keep us from swallowing those bitter pills

We all want to believe

 

I've seen you hammering that two ton wall

I've seen one hopeless case I've seen 'em all

Goes to show, that when you're tired of believing it becomes God's will

You got to get up yer go

Cause when you're down in the bottom land it's all up holl

So keep a shovel for those bitter pills

We all want to believe

(yep everybody does)

 

Ooh sweet life.  Beat life. From all the lessons you learned

Ooh sweet life.  Beat life.  Just like the wings of a bird

(beat 'em out)

 

I was a monkey with a man on my back.  I didn't think that i could make it back

Goes to show That when you're tired of believing it becomes God's will

Caw Caw the Capitol crow.  We're all pecking out a living off the seeds they sow

We take a licking but we let it go

We all want to believe

(Chorus)

 

Sunday Song

This is the street where you were born

This is the tree whose branches bore you a child into a man

And all the people that you know 

All the family whose blood courses through your veins through the age of time

 

Live Hallelujah, give Hallelujah. The peace you make is yours

Find your way and let it be

Ride your wave into the sea and try, try, try, try, try, try, try, 

try to take it home with you, roam with you now

 

When you were born you felt a pulse

When did that beat become the ticking of the clock upon the wall

When you were young we had it all

When was it taken from you? Who was it deciding to let go?

(chorus)

 

Bitterness

When I'm dry, I can't take the pain

Gotta stay high just to sustain

I'm in the sky like a cloud filled up with rain

 

That's what bitterness gets you

A house full of rain

 

The doors are locked the windows are too

I couldn't stand the sun since I've lost you

I cannot lie I could not be true

 

And that's what bitterness gets you 

A house full of blue

(repeat)

 

Big Berkie

Big Berkie was a butcher 'til Jim come and took her now he's just a family man

He was working for the Gottis driving black maseratis and closing on a ten year plan

He was chopin' up a chisler, chewin' on a twizzler when Tony T called on the phone

He said "I know the street I can make the meat but you better well come alone".

When Tony T cracked wise he stabbed him in the eyes, and sat back to savor his steak

He said "I'm sick of these goons and these motel rooms an it's high time I made my break".

 

Yeah, I'm gonna make some time back to my home town

I'm gonna fix them wheels that keep spinning around 

Sometimes you see the light when you can't hear a sound

I'm gonna fix them wheels back in my hometown

 

He wasn't looking for Loretta but in time he met her

She came to town to pick up some things

 said "Lo, you never looked finer but I see you got a Shiner, I ain't talkin' 'bout that diamond ring".

She said " Well Jimmy gets moody never takes me to the movies, but you know I can't complain".

He said "When you see Jim tell Jim I'm coming for him just like them black clouds coming with rain".

Yeah

I'm gonna have a time back in my home town

I'm gonna fix them wheels that keep spinning around

Some times you see the light when you can't hear a sound

I'm gonna fix them wheels back in my hometown

 

It was half past eight at the town dump gate when Berkie met with old man Slim

He said "Well here's ten grand make sure you cut off them hands. There ain't that much left of Jim".

They were stacked like brothers one bag upon the other in the back of Berkies beat up Ford

When ol' Slimmy looked nervous Berkie knew him from the service he said a quick prayer to the Lord

Then the gate slapped to there was nothing left to do.  The Feds come in from miles around

Her cried "Dear Lord pleas as he fell to his knees. I see the light and now I hear the sound". yeah

 

I'm gonna do some time back in my home town

I'll never fix them wheels that keep spinning around

Sometimes you see the light and sometimes you hear the sound

Well I'll never fix them wheels back in my hometown

 

Side of Town

Imagine seeing you on this side of town

I thought the people just dragged you down

all you gotta do is look around for the faces that you forgot

So you spent your time up on solid ground

but your roots never found the ground

You're pretty sure they were left behind in the places that you forgot

 

It's been a long time in coming around to it

and you should know

Such a strange place to be coming around to in

and you should know ooh oh

 

Imagine being lost after all this time

Still find meaning in this divide

Where all you gotta do is to try whats been tried just to keep ya from falling below

Pretty good reason for holding on

Withe every new season the old one is gone

Pretty good reason if it keeps us hanging on it could keep us from falling below

 

Mine Was the Devil

Mine was the devil on a road straight to hell

But he didn't need to hang me from the window sill

To dry, dry me out, hanging miles above the street and sinking claws into my feet

I'm a bigger fool than you can tell me to ask, ask for more

and when he turned me out, I could see and feel defeat

I had to turn my head to hide the  tears, tears on my cheek

 

Mine was the devil X4

 

Ooh mine was the devil in a world made of stone

All you hypocrites and heathens cannot still me in a bed I made my own

Golden rain falls around my open arms and what light remains comes to me in the dark

Now I laugh for fear of crying better live like we are dying

Mine was the devil

 

Shadow's Edge

Sometimes the sweetest grass grows on shadow's edge

and sometimes the shadow's edge swallows everything

 

The rain that falls whites out the mountain tops

Loneliness calls leaving shadows on the wall

We get so lost that we can't even hear the words the birds are singing

 

Sometimes the shadow's edge swallows everything

and sometimes the sweetest grass grows on shadow's edge

(repeat chorus)