Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Garnet Rogers interviewed
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Caroline Herring honored
Herring's release is also lauded by The Sojourners.
Friday, December 21, 2012
John Rumsey's favorites of 2012
Top picks 2012 (from November 2011 to November 2012)
Top five 2012 (in order)
* Suzzy Bogguss "American Folk Songbook "
* Dave Gunning "No More Pennies"
* Kathy Mattea "Calling Me Home"
" Gathering Time "Red Apples and Gold"
* Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer "Little Blue Egg"
Next five (no order)
* Drew Nelson "Tilt A Whirl"
* Pesky J Nixon "Red Ducks"
* Coty Houge "When We Get To Shore"
* Mary Chapin Carpenter "Ashes and Roses"
* Iris Dement "Sing the Delta"
Honorable Mention
* Navigators "Soldiers and Sailors"
* Stray Birds "Stray Birds"
* Honey Dewdrops "Silver Lining"
* Chris LaVancher "Roadside Attractions"
* Grant Peeples "Prior Convictions"
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Lauding Danny Schmidt
Monday, December 17, 2012
John Platt's faves of 2012
Following my friend Rich Warren's example, here's an annotated list of my favorites of the past year, in alphabetical order:
* John Fullbright, *From the Ground Up*
The phenomenally talented 24-year-old Grammy nominee from Woody Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, OK, whose heroes are more likely Randy Newman and Tom Waits
* Penny Nichols, *Colors of the Sun: Penny Nichols Sings the Early Songs of Jackson Browne*
Best known recently as the founder of Summersongs, Penny was a close friend (and sometime lover) of Jackson Browne at the time he wrote classics like "These Days" and "Fountain of Sorrow"
* Joan Osborne, *Bring It On Home*
Joan can sing anything from folk to standards, but these blues and R&B covers are right in her wheelhouse
* Gretchen Peters, *Hello Cruel World*
A Grammy-nominated songwriter from Nashville who's been covered by the likes of Trisha Yearwood and Faith Hill, Gretchen released a very personal album that's stunning from start to finish
* Rodriguez, *Searching for Sugar Man*
The soundtrack of the heartwarming documentary about the Detroit singer who fell off the musical map but was rediscovered thanks to the passion of his South African fans
* The Twangtown Paramours, *The Promise of Friday Night*
A married musical couple from Nashville whose music is not so much twangy as "sophisticated Americana"
* Various Artists, *Chimes of Freedom*
The four-CD feast of Bob Dylan covers are by everyone Adele to Zee Avi, not to mention Billy Bragg, Sting, and Raphael Saadiq, compiled for Amnesty International's 50th anniversary
* Various Artists, *Joni Mitchell's "Blue"*
Some of New York's finest female folkies, collectively known as Chicks with Dip, do justice to Joni's deceptively tricky classics
* Various Artists, *Treme: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season 2*
Soulful performances from the series where the musical guest artists are as important as the excellent regular cast
* Loudon Wainwright III, *Older Than My Old Man*
The whole Wainwright clan assists Loudon in this chronicle about aging
which has songs both serious and satirical
Also Worthy:
* Ryan Adams*, *Ashes & Fire*
* Nels Andrews*, *Scrimshaw*
* Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem*, *Some Bright Morning*
* Barnstar!*, *C'Mon*
* Buskin & Batteau*, *Love Remembered/Love Forgot*
* Brandi Carlile*, *Bear Creek*
* Mary Chapin Carpenter*, *Ashes and Roses*
* Anna Dagmar*, *Satellite*
* Iris DeMent*, *Sing the Delta*
* Honor Finnegan*, *The Tiny Life*
* Benjamin Gibbard*, *Former Lives*
* Lucy Kaplansky*, *Reunion*
* The Lumineers*, *The Lumineers*
* Kathy Mattea*, *Calling Me Home*
* Pete Seeger & Lorre Wyatt*, *A More Perfect Union*
* Bruce Springsteen*, *Wrecking Ball*
* Various Artists**, Trouble in the Fields: An Artists' Tribute to
Nanci Griffith
Saturday, December 15, 2012
"Fairytale of New York"
Friday, December 14, 2012
One more for John Gorka's best
Missed this one in earlier compiling the best of John Gorka.
He is skating on a river
That's been frozen since December
He's a soldier on a river off to war
And he just received his orders
They're in his pocket with his quarters
But they never cut his leave like this before
And his buddies know he's crazy
But They'll meet him by the bridge
And he has the light of more than half the moon
He skated nights when he was younger
Though he always knew the danger
But it seems so much is here and gone so soon
And the ice talks to the river
And the geese talk to themselves
Will they fly all night if there's no place to land?
A place to land is open water
And open water he can't use
When it's hard enough to find a place to stand
When the ice gives in beneath you
You know it changes how you dream
And you will never be the same again
He's going where there is no winter
The only ice is in his veins
He may kill someone who's face he'll never see
He always knew he'd be a soldier
Since his parents could remember
Now he's skating down this temporary road
He is skating on a river
That's been frozen since December
He's a soldier on a river off to war
He is skating on a river
That's been frozen since December
He's a soldier on a river off to war
And he just received his orders
They're in his pocket with his quarters
But they never cut his leave like this before
And his buddies know he's crazy
But They'll meet him by the bridge
And he has the light of more than half the moon
He skated nights when he was younger
Though he always knew the danger
But it seems so much is here and gone so soon
And the ice talks to the river
And the geese talk to themselves
Will they fly all night if there's no place to land?
A place to land is open water
And open water he can't use
When it's hard enough to find a place to stand
When the ice gives in beneath you
You know it changes how you dream
And you will never be the same again
He's going where there is no winter
The only ice is in his veins
He may kill someone who's face he'll never see
He always knew he'd be a soldier
Since his parents could remember
Now he's skating down this temporary road
He is skating on a river
That's been frozen since December
He's a soldier on a river off to war
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Rich Warren's take on the top 49
This is from Rich Warren back in July 2010 -- in alphabetical order, his 49 most significant singer-songwriters in the last 50 years:
1. Ben Bedford (Lincoln’s Man)
2. Eric Bogle (And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda)
3. Gordon Bok (Turning Toward the Morning)
4. Greg Brown (Rexroth’s Daughter / Ring Around the Moon)
5. Jonathan Byrd (The Ballad of Larry)
6. Dave Carter (Gentle Arms of Eden / When I Go)
7. Harry Chapin (Mr. Tanner)
8. Leonard Cohen (Suzanne)
9. Judy Collins (Albatross)
10. Iris DeMent (Our Town)
11. Kitty Donohoe (There Are No Words)
12. Bob Dylan (Blowin’ in the Wind)
13. Bob Franke (Hard Love)
14. Steve Goodman (City of New Orleans)
15. John Gorka (Love Is Our Cross to Bear / Temporary Road)
16. Diana Jones (Pony / Cracked and Broken)
17. Connie Kaldor (Grandmother’s Song)
18. James Keelaghan (Cold Missouri Waters)
19. Gordon Lightfoot (Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle / Canadian Railroad Trilogy)
20. Ewan MacColl (Joy of Living / First Time Ever I Saw Your Face)
21. Don McLean (American Pie / Vincent)
22. John McCutcheon (Christmas in the Trenches)
23. Suzanne McDermott (The 3 Dreams of J. Robert Oppenheimer)
24. David Mallett (The Garden Song)
25. Anais Mitchell (Two Kids / Before the Eyes of Story Telling Girls)
26. Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now)
27. Pete Morton (Another Train)
28. Peter Mulvey (Rise)
29. Carrie Newcomer (There Is a Tree)
30. Phil Ochs (Crucifixion)
31. Kristina Olsen (Yellow Piper / Dangerous)
32. Tom Paxton (Ramblin’ Boy / Last Thing on My Mind)
33. Utah Phillips (Goodnight Loving Trail / Touch Me)
34. John Prine (Paradise / Hello in There)
35. Rich Prezioso of Small Potatoes (1,000 Candles, 1,000 Cranes)
36. Garnet Rogers (All That Is)
37. Stan Rogers (Mary Ellen Carter /Northwest Passage / House of Orange /
Barrett’s Privateers / Jeanie-C)
38. Pete Seeger (Turn, Turn, Turn / Waist Deep in the Big Muddy)
39. Danny Schmidt (Stained Glass)
40. Richard Shindell (Are You Happy Now / Reunion Hill)
41. Patrick Sky (Sometimes I Wonder)
42. Michael Smith (The Dutchman)
43. Ian Tyson (Ian & Sylvia) (Four Strong Winds)
44. Townes Van Zandt (Pancho & Lefty)
45. Jerry Jeff Walker (Mr. Bojangles)
46. Susan Werner (Barbed Wire Boys / May I Suggest)
47. Cheryl Wheeler (Arrow)
48. Dar Williams (February)
49. Robin & Linda Williams with Jerome Clark (Don’t Let Me Come Home a Stranger)
Monday, December 10, 2012
A Rodney Crowell look back
Saturday, December 8, 2012
A 2012 Top 10 list
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
"Hallelujah" and Leonard Cohen
Thursday, November 29, 2012
"Buddhist country music"
Sean Tyrrell "Lights of Little Christmas" "Mattie" "The Rising of the Moon" "Cry of a Dreamer"
Sean Tyrrell is one of the more innovative singer-songwriters in that he creates his own material but is also known for adapting the poems of others to music.
Below is the best Tyrrell I could locate on YouTube:
"Lights Of Little Christmas"
When the snow lies on the hillside like the ghost of being born
And the wind makes praying fingers in the shadows of the thorn
There’s someone I often think of wishing, somehow she’d return
Though I know she’s in some city watching coloured neons burn
In the still and silent midnight thoughts unbidden come to mind
Shades of pictures in an album labelled,‘Those were better times.’
And that girl she smiles out sweetly, sitting pretty in the frame
Blowing out her penny candles and I hear her call my name
Chorus
And the lights of Little Christmas shine so brightly in the west
Saying please come home we miss you
and we wish you all the best
yes, we wish you all the best
Now another winter marches ‘cross the fields of frozen stone
And another Little Christmas finds me quietly at home
Til the telephone starts ringing and I go totake the call
Someone asking, ‘Do you know me? Do you know this voice at all?
Never in a lifetime could I be made to forget
In a journey of a thousand miles I remember every step
And, yes, I know those sweet lips that are so close to the phone
Is she here or in America? Is she home or is she gone?
Chorus
And the lights of Little Christmas shine so brightly in the west
Saying please come home we miss you
and we wish you all the best
yes, we wish you all the best
She says I just got into Shannon and I think I’m home to stay
Could you come and pick me up down here. There’s a word you’ve got to say
And I’ve barely put the phone down and the keys are in my hand
And each little light that I pass by says right here’s your promised land.
Yes, each little light that I pass by says right here’s your promised land.
+++++
"Mattie"
Mattie walked out on a frozen night
He was headin’ for the pub and he had no delight
His head down on the railroad track
And his old cow Delia sad lowin’ him back.
He met with a dark and staggerin’ man
as he passed him by shouted back at him:
“Mattie can’t you see what’s become of me?
I cannot feel the fin.”
“The very last house that I have left
Half impressed with my rhymes
They’re now all dead to me
All I’ve got left is the beat of the stagger
Headin’ down the Curra Line.”
But Mattie passed on as quick as he could
He couldn’t stand such a drunken man sober
All he wanted was the light in the bar
The “Nightingale” and the “Wild Rover”.
When he came in
They were sayin’: “Now you’re back
Did Delia drive you out
With your spoutin’ and your swearin’?
We don’t want to hear about Bunker Hayden
But later you can give us the ‘Girls of Kinkane’.”
The fear-a-ti eyed him warily
As he handed him his first jar of porter
He says: “You must have seen the bishop’s ghost tonight
To put the dry look back in your eye.”
But Mattie would not be taken in
By their jibin’ and their regalin’
He found himself a freshly blown crew
And fell in with their sport and their bailin’.
But as he was going home, in the very same spot
Where he met his dark familiar
He seen him comin’ back down the line
And he was bright, strange and fine.
As he passed him by Mattie threw out his arms
Tryin’ to grab hold of his likeness.
In the morning all they found was a frozen corpse
At the butt of the Curra Line.
And at the wake
They were lashin’down
“The drops of brandy-“
“The old fashioned habit-“
In the church they were lashin’ down pounds and fivers
So Mattie would be fine in the old by and by.
+++++
"The Rising Of The Moon"
Tyrrell re-writes the original lyrics -- have yet to find his verses.
+++++
"Cry Of A Dreamer"
+++++
Below is the best Tyrrell I could locate on YouTube:
"Lights Of Little Christmas"
When the snow lies on the hillside like the ghost of being born
And the wind makes praying fingers in the shadows of the thorn
There’s someone I often think of wishing, somehow she’d return
Though I know she’s in some city watching coloured neons burn
In the still and silent midnight thoughts unbidden come to mind
Shades of pictures in an album labelled,‘Those were better times.’
And that girl she smiles out sweetly, sitting pretty in the frame
Blowing out her penny candles and I hear her call my name
Chorus
And the lights of Little Christmas shine so brightly in the west
Saying please come home we miss you
and we wish you all the best
yes, we wish you all the best
Now another winter marches ‘cross the fields of frozen stone
And another Little Christmas finds me quietly at home
Til the telephone starts ringing and I go totake the call
Someone asking, ‘Do you know me? Do you know this voice at all?
Never in a lifetime could I be made to forget
In a journey of a thousand miles I remember every step
And, yes, I know those sweet lips that are so close to the phone
Is she here or in America? Is she home or is she gone?
Chorus
And the lights of Little Christmas shine so brightly in the west
Saying please come home we miss you
and we wish you all the best
yes, we wish you all the best
She says I just got into Shannon and I think I’m home to stay
Could you come and pick me up down here. There’s a word you’ve got to say
And I’ve barely put the phone down and the keys are in my hand
And each little light that I pass by says right here’s your promised land.
Yes, each little light that I pass by says right here’s your promised land.
+++++
"Mattie"
Mattie walked out on a frozen night
He was headin’ for the pub and he had no delight
His head down on the railroad track
And his old cow Delia sad lowin’ him back.
He met with a dark and staggerin’ man
as he passed him by shouted back at him:
“Mattie can’t you see what’s become of me?
I cannot feel the fin.”
“The very last house that I have left
Half impressed with my rhymes
They’re now all dead to me
All I’ve got left is the beat of the stagger
Headin’ down the Curra Line.”
But Mattie passed on as quick as he could
He couldn’t stand such a drunken man sober
All he wanted was the light in the bar
The “Nightingale” and the “Wild Rover”.
When he came in
They were sayin’: “Now you’re back
Did Delia drive you out
With your spoutin’ and your swearin’?
We don’t want to hear about Bunker Hayden
But later you can give us the ‘Girls of Kinkane’.”
The fear-a-ti eyed him warily
As he handed him his first jar of porter
He says: “You must have seen the bishop’s ghost tonight
To put the dry look back in your eye.”
But Mattie would not be taken in
By their jibin’ and their regalin’
He found himself a freshly blown crew
And fell in with their sport and their bailin’.
But as he was going home, in the very same spot
Where he met his dark familiar
He seen him comin’ back down the line
And he was bright, strange and fine.
As he passed him by Mattie threw out his arms
Tryin’ to grab hold of his likeness.
In the morning all they found was a frozen corpse
At the butt of the Curra Line.
And at the wake
They were lashin’down
“The drops of brandy-“
“The old fashioned habit-“
In the church they were lashin’ down pounds and fivers
So Mattie would be fine in the old by and by.
+++++
"The Rising Of The Moon"
Tyrrell re-writes the original lyrics -- have yet to find his verses.
+++++
"Cry Of A Dreamer"
+++++
Friday, November 23, 2012
The Waifs "London Still" "Bridal Train"
Not real familiar with The Waifs out of Oz but here are a pair of their songs that you will enjoy:
"London Still"
Wonder if you can pick up my
Accent on the phone
When I call across the country
When I call across the world
I -- see you in my kitchen
I can picture you now
As you toast to your small town
When you drink the happy hour
I’m in London still
I’m in London still
I'm in London still
I took the tube over to Camden
To wander around
I bought some funky records
With that old Motown sound
And I miss you like my left arm
That's been lost in a war
Today I dream of home and not of London anymore
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
Yeah I'm in London still
You know it’s okay
I’m kinda happy here for now
I think I've finally grown up
And got myself a love of now
And if I ever come home
And I, I think I will
I hope you're gonna wanna hang at my place on Sunday still
Oh yeah I hope you will
Cause I'm in London still
You know we got it sorted, yeah
We really got it down
To a fine art on Sunday
In a sleepy Sunday town
I wonder what I'm missing
I think of songs I've never heard
I'm dreaming of your voices
And I'm dreaming of your hurt
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
Oh I'm in London still
la-la-la-la-la London still
I'm in London
"London Still"
Wonder if you can pick up my
Accent on the phone
When I call across the country
When I call across the world
I -- see you in my kitchen
I can picture you now
As you toast to your small town
When you drink the happy hour
I’m in London still
I’m in London still
I'm in London still
I took the tube over to Camden
To wander around
I bought some funky records
With that old Motown sound
And I miss you like my left arm
That's been lost in a war
Today I dream of home and not of London anymore
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
Yeah I'm in London still
You know it’s okay
I’m kinda happy here for now
I think I've finally grown up
And got myself a love of now
And if I ever come home
And I, I think I will
I hope you're gonna wanna hang at my place on Sunday still
Oh yeah I hope you will
Cause I'm in London still
You know we got it sorted, yeah
We really got it down
To a fine art on Sunday
In a sleepy Sunday town
I wonder what I'm missing
I think of songs I've never heard
I'm dreaming of your voices
And I'm dreaming of your hurt
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
I'm in London still
Oh I'm in London still
la-la-la-la-la London still
I'm in London
and
"Bridal Train"
Telegram arrived today
It's time to catch the Monterey
Cause the man I wed he waits for me
And the daughter that he's yet to see
U.S. navy beamed its message
will deliver brides on a one way passage
it made big news across the nation
the bridal train leaves from Perth station
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
It was a farewell crossing of her land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
no time for sad goodbyes
she held her mother as she cried
and then waited there in the freo rain
to climb aboard the bridal train
well she was holding her future in her hand
the faded photo of a man
catch a sailor if you can
the war bride leaves her southern land
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
it was a farewell crossing of her land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
this is the story of the starry nights
through desert plains and city lights
through burning sun and driving rain
she wept aboard the bridal train
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
it was a farewell crossing over land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
"Bridal Train"
Telegram arrived today
It's time to catch the Monterey
Cause the man I wed he waits for me
And the daughter that he's yet to see
U.S. navy beamed its message
will deliver brides on a one way passage
it made big news across the nation
the bridal train leaves from Perth station
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
It was a farewell crossing of her land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
no time for sad goodbyes
she held her mother as she cried
and then waited there in the freo rain
to climb aboard the bridal train
well she was holding her future in her hand
the faded photo of a man
catch a sailor if you can
the war bride leaves her southern land
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
it was a farewell crossing of her land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
this is the story of the starry nights
through desert plains and city lights
through burning sun and driving rain
she wept aboard the bridal train
All the girls around Australia
married to a yankee sailor
your fare is paid across the sea
to the home of the brave and the land of the free
from west to east the young girls came
all aboard the bridal train
it was a farewell crossing over land
she's gone to meet her sailor man
Friday, November 16, 2012
James Keelaghan "Cold Missouri Water"
James Keelaghan has a myriad of albums and songs out but he will always be remembered for this one:
"Cold Missouri Water"
My name is Dodge, but then you know that
It's written on the chart there at the foot end of the bed
They think I'm blind, I can't read it
I've read it every word, and every word it says is death
So, confession - is that the reason that you came
Get it off my chest before I check out of the game
Since you mention it, well there's thirteen things I'll name
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters
August 'Forty-Nine, north Montana
The hottest day on record, the forest tinder dry
Lightning strikes in the mountains
I was crew chief at the jump base, I prepared the boys to fly
Pick the drop zone, C-47 comes in low
Feel the tap upon your leg that tells you go
See the circle of the fire down below
Fifteen of us dropped above the cold Missouri waters
Gauged the fire, I'd seen bigger
So I ordered them to sidehill and we'd fight it from below
We'd have our backs to the river
We'd have it licked by morning even if we took it slow
But the fire crowned, jumped the valley just ahead
There was no way down, headed for the ridge instead
Too big to fight it, we'd have to fight that slope instead
Flames one step behind above the cold Missouri waters
Sky had turned red, smoke was boiling
Two hundred yards to safety, death was fifty yards behind
I don't know why I just thought it
I struck a match to waist high grass running out of time
Tried to tell them, Step into this fire I set
We can't make it, this is the only chance you'll get
But they cursed me, ran for the rocks above instead
I lay face down and prayed above the cold Missouri waters
And when I rose, like the phoenix
In that world reduced to ashes there were none but two survived
I stayed that night and one day after
Carried bodies to the river, wonder how I stayed alive
Thirteen stations of the cross to mark to their fall
I've had my say, I'll confess to nothing more
I'll join them now, because they left me long before
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri shore
+++++
But he certainly has others. Here's another elegant Keelaghan song:
"Kiri's Piano"
Of all of Kiri Ito's joys, the thing she loved the best
Was to play her prized piano when the sun had gone to rest
I used to hear the notes drift down along the silent water
As Kiri played the notes and scales for her dear sons and daughters
Now me I played piano though not as good as Kiri
She went in for that long-haired stuff but my, she played it pretty
The old piano had a tone would set my heart to aching
It always sounded sweetest though when it was Kiri playing
In December when the seventh fleet was turned to smoke and ashes
The order came to confiscate their fishing boats and caches
And Kiri's husband forced to go and work in labour camps
And Kiri left alone and fend and hold the fort as best she can
But the music did not drift as often from up the cove at Kiri's house
And when it did it sounded haunted, played with worry, played with doubt
For Kiri knew that soon she too would be compelled to leave
And the old upright would stay behind and Kiri she would grieve
I loaded Kiri on the bus with stoic internees
The crime that they were guilty of was that they were not like me
And if I was ashamed I didn't know it at the time
They were flotsam on the wave of war, they were no friends of mine
I went up to Kiri's house to tag all their belongings
And set them out for auctioneers who'd claim them in the morning
One piece that I thought I'd keep and hold back for myself
Was that haunting ivory upright that Kiri played so well
But Kiri had not left it there for me to take as plunder
She'd rolled it down onto the dock and on into the harbor
The old upright in strangers' hands was a thought she couldn't bear
So she consigned it to the sea to settle the affair
So many years have come and gone since Kiri's relocation
I look back now upon that time with shame and resignation
For Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free
Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity
++++
And another:
"Hillcrest Mine"
Down in the mines of the Crowsnest Pass
It's the men who die in labour
Sweating coal from the womb of the pit
It's the smell of life they savour
And in that mine young man you'll find
A wealth of broken dreams
As long and as dark and as black and as wide
As the coal in the Hillcrest seam
CHORUS
They say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine
They say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine
'Cuz it's one short step
You might leave this world behind
And they say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine.
I've heard it whispered in the light of dawn
That mountain sometimes moves
That bodes ill for the morning shift
And you know what you're gonna lose
Don't go my son where The deep coal runs
Turn your back to the mine on the hill
'Cuz if the dust and the dark and the gas don't getcha
Then the goons and the bosses will
CHORUS
Well son I'm gonna open up, I'm gonna have my say
You'll get no peace from the Hillcrest Mine
'Cept the peace of any early grave
Go out and work for The workers' rights
Go work for the workers' needs
Don't stay down here to toil for your buck
To be a tool for the owner's greed
CHORUS
CHORUS
+++++
Plus,
"McConville"
I work down at McConville's, it's the pub behind the square
If ever you're in Portadown, anyone can point you there
We have lagers ales and porters, but the thing that brings them in
Is the whiskey that McConville brews that where this all begins
IN all the years I've worked there and for fifty years before
Not a bottle of the sweet stuff ever walked outside the door
Cause McConville laid the rule down, it was honoured till today
Drink your fill while at the bar, but the bottle has to stay
Six or seven years ago when young Jimmy first came by
He was looking for a local, we were the third place that he'd tried
Her looked around, no ferns…, no telly blaring from the bar
And once he tried the whiskey he never strayed too far
He'd come in after dinner for an hour maybe more
Play some cards and talk and joke, 'cause that's what a local's for
Before he'd leave most nights, because the bottles had to stay
He'd ask me for a whiskey just to see him on his way
Three days ago his mate come in, he said Jimmy took a fall
From a roof that he was working on, he had no chance at all
And today after the funeral, after burying young Jim
They came here to his second home, the mourners crowded in
Then I did a thing I never thought I'd do 'til it was done
I took a bottle from the shelf, I held it up for everyone
Rules are made for breaking, tonight the whisky leaves the bar
An auction for the family, who'll give me £50 to start
At £500 the bidding stopped, no, you couldn't hear a sound
But for the roar as Jimmy's mates stepped up and laid their pay packs down
And I can't believe I did it, never thought I'd see the day
That I'd hand someone the bottle and then watch it walk away
As I was heading home tonight I passed the grave yard by
I sure that I heard singing and silhouetted on the sky
Were Jimmy's friends and they were pouring something on his grave
A little offering for young Jim to help him on his way
I work down at McConville's, it's the pub behind the square
If ever you're in Portadown, anyone can point you there
"Cold Missouri Water"
My name is Dodge, but then you know that
It's written on the chart there at the foot end of the bed
They think I'm blind, I can't read it
I've read it every word, and every word it says is death
So, confession - is that the reason that you came
Get it off my chest before I check out of the game
Since you mention it, well there's thirteen things I'll name
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters
August 'Forty-Nine, north Montana
The hottest day on record, the forest tinder dry
Lightning strikes in the mountains
I was crew chief at the jump base, I prepared the boys to fly
Pick the drop zone, C-47 comes in low
Feel the tap upon your leg that tells you go
See the circle of the fire down below
Fifteen of us dropped above the cold Missouri waters
Gauged the fire, I'd seen bigger
So I ordered them to sidehill and we'd fight it from below
We'd have our backs to the river
We'd have it licked by morning even if we took it slow
But the fire crowned, jumped the valley just ahead
There was no way down, headed for the ridge instead
Too big to fight it, we'd have to fight that slope instead
Flames one step behind above the cold Missouri waters
Sky had turned red, smoke was boiling
Two hundred yards to safety, death was fifty yards behind
I don't know why I just thought it
I struck a match to waist high grass running out of time
Tried to tell them, Step into this fire I set
We can't make it, this is the only chance you'll get
But they cursed me, ran for the rocks above instead
I lay face down and prayed above the cold Missouri waters
And when I rose, like the phoenix
In that world reduced to ashes there were none but two survived
I stayed that night and one day after
Carried bodies to the river, wonder how I stayed alive
Thirteen stations of the cross to mark to their fall
I've had my say, I'll confess to nothing more
I'll join them now, because they left me long before
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri shore
+++++
But he certainly has others. Here's another elegant Keelaghan song:
"Kiri's Piano"
Of all of Kiri Ito's joys, the thing she loved the best
Was to play her prized piano when the sun had gone to rest
I used to hear the notes drift down along the silent water
As Kiri played the notes and scales for her dear sons and daughters
Now me I played piano though not as good as Kiri
She went in for that long-haired stuff but my, she played it pretty
The old piano had a tone would set my heart to aching
It always sounded sweetest though when it was Kiri playing
In December when the seventh fleet was turned to smoke and ashes
The order came to confiscate their fishing boats and caches
And Kiri's husband forced to go and work in labour camps
And Kiri left alone and fend and hold the fort as best she can
But the music did not drift as often from up the cove at Kiri's house
And when it did it sounded haunted, played with worry, played with doubt
For Kiri knew that soon she too would be compelled to leave
And the old upright would stay behind and Kiri she would grieve
I loaded Kiri on the bus with stoic internees
The crime that they were guilty of was that they were not like me
And if I was ashamed I didn't know it at the time
They were flotsam on the wave of war, they were no friends of mine
I went up to Kiri's house to tag all their belongings
And set them out for auctioneers who'd claim them in the morning
One piece that I thought I'd keep and hold back for myself
Was that haunting ivory upright that Kiri played so well
But Kiri had not left it there for me to take as plunder
She'd rolled it down onto the dock and on into the harbor
The old upright in strangers' hands was a thought she couldn't bear
So she consigned it to the sea to settle the affair
So many years have come and gone since Kiri's relocation
I look back now upon that time with shame and resignation
For Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free
Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity
++++
And another:
"Hillcrest Mine"
Down in the mines of the Crowsnest Pass
It's the men who die in labour
Sweating coal from the womb of the pit
It's the smell of life they savour
And in that mine young man you'll find
A wealth of broken dreams
As long and as dark and as black and as wide
As the coal in the Hillcrest seam
CHORUS
They say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine
They say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine
'Cuz it's one short step
You might leave this world behind
And they say you don't go
Say you don't go down in the Hillcrest Mine.
I've heard it whispered in the light of dawn
That mountain sometimes moves
That bodes ill for the morning shift
And you know what you're gonna lose
Don't go my son where The deep coal runs
Turn your back to the mine on the hill
'Cuz if the dust and the dark and the gas don't getcha
Then the goons and the bosses will
CHORUS
Well son I'm gonna open up, I'm gonna have my say
You'll get no peace from the Hillcrest Mine
'Cept the peace of any early grave
Go out and work for The workers' rights
Go work for the workers' needs
Don't stay down here to toil for your buck
To be a tool for the owner's greed
CHORUS
CHORUS
+++++
Plus,
"McConville"
I work down at McConville's, it's the pub behind the square
If ever you're in Portadown, anyone can point you there
We have lagers ales and porters, but the thing that brings them in
Is the whiskey that McConville brews that where this all begins
IN all the years I've worked there and for fifty years before
Not a bottle of the sweet stuff ever walked outside the door
Cause McConville laid the rule down, it was honoured till today
Drink your fill while at the bar, but the bottle has to stay
Six or seven years ago when young Jimmy first came by
He was looking for a local, we were the third place that he'd tried
Her looked around, no ferns…, no telly blaring from the bar
And once he tried the whiskey he never strayed too far
He'd come in after dinner for an hour maybe more
Play some cards and talk and joke, 'cause that's what a local's for
Before he'd leave most nights, because the bottles had to stay
He'd ask me for a whiskey just to see him on his way
Three days ago his mate come in, he said Jimmy took a fall
From a roof that he was working on, he had no chance at all
And today after the funeral, after burying young Jim
They came here to his second home, the mourners crowded in
Then I did a thing I never thought I'd do 'til it was done
I took a bottle from the shelf, I held it up for everyone
Rules are made for breaking, tonight the whisky leaves the bar
An auction for the family, who'll give me £50 to start
At £500 the bidding stopped, no, you couldn't hear a sound
But for the roar as Jimmy's mates stepped up and laid their pay packs down
And I can't believe I did it, never thought I'd see the day
That I'd hand someone the bottle and then watch it walk away
As I was heading home tonight I passed the grave yard by
I sure that I heard singing and silhouetted on the sky
Were Jimmy's friends and they were pouring something on his grave
A little offering for young Jim to help him on his way
I work down at McConville's, it's the pub behind the square
If ever you're in Portadown, anyone can point you there
John Gorka's best
John Gorka is a member of the folk music pantheon, a well-earned residency. Posting his legacy songs is quite the chore in narrowing them down to a workable number. Here's the best shot (in no particular order):
"Love is Our Cross To Bear"
I didn't know where to look for you last night
I didn't know where to find you
I didn't know how I could touch that light
That's always gathering behind you
I didn't know that I would find a way
To find you in the morning
But love can pull you out of yesterday
As it takes you without warning
I want to be a long time friend to you
I want to be a long time known
Not one of your memory's used-to-bes
A summer's fading song
CHORUS:
It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear
I know I'll think of us upon that hill
With the golden moon arising
And the stars will fall around us still
While the love is realizing
And so it is until we meet again
And I throw my arms around you
You can count the gray hairs in my head
I'll still be thankful that I found you
CHORUS:
It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear
+++++
"I'm From New Jersey"
I'm from New Jersey
I don't expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust
I'm from New Jersey
No I don't talk that way
I watched too much TV
When I was young
I'm from New Jersey
My mom's Italian
I've read those mafia books
We don't belong
There are girls from New Jersey
Who have that great big hair
They're found in shopping malls
I will take you there
I'm from New Jersey
It's not like Texas
There is no mystery
I can't pretend
I'm from New Jersey
It's like Ohio
But even more so
Imagine that
I know which exit
And where I'm bound
The tolls on the parkway
They will slow you down
New Jersey people
They will surprise you
Cause they're not expected
To do too much
They will try harder
They may go further
Cause they never think
That they are good enough
I'm from New Jersey
I don't expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust
I would adjust
I would adjust
+++++
"The Gypsy Life"
There is nothing in my head today
Nothing awful there to ponder or confuse me
Go ahead in what you have to say
And I will listen as I listen to the news
I know the whole truth there is horrible
It's better if you take a little at a time
Too much and you are not portable
Not enough and you'll be making happy rhymes
Chorus
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
If you choose to settle in one place
You may be harder over on the ones you love
Like a tree without the growing space
You will be taking from below and from above
Chorus:
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
There is nothing in my head today
I'll cross the river people as I cross my heart
The pigeon bridges are a place to stay
I will go under as I try to do my part
Chorus
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
+++++
"Armed With A Broken Heart"
Take this as a warning
To stay away from me
Because the man that you used to know
Is not the man that you're going to see
Someday we may laugh at this
Someday we may be friends
But for now you can keep your distance
Stay away till the pieces mend
(2)
This sudden loneliness has made me dangerous
Please don't watch me while I fall apart
'Cause I'm sad and I'm angry
And armed with a broken heart
(3)
And what will get me through the night
Is what I'll use with all my might
And to some peace I have a right
But I pay so dearly
And at my age I should be wise
Now I'm untying all those ties
The evidence is in the eyes
That should see so clearly
I once saw so clearly
(4)
You know I will say anything
If it will keep you away
But I don't know what I would do
If you said you were gonna stay
Don't do me any favors
Don't try to ease the pain
Won't you please let me hate you now
So I won't fall for you again
(Repeat stanza 3, then stanza 2)
+++++
"People My Age"
People my age
Have started looking gross
I cannot say all
And I shouldn't say most
I've seen 'em in the grocery
I've seen 'em up close
And people my age
Have started looking gross
People my age
Are showing some wear
There's holes where their teeth was
And their heads have gone bare
Their brains are shrinking
Faces sinking into fat
And as for the mirror
We won't be looking into that
People my age
Have started looking gross
Maybe not in Colorado
Or up the Silicon Coast
Back in Pennsylvania
I'd eat scrapple on toast
Those were my first steps
On the road to looking gross
People my age
Are looking overripe
Some are getting operations
To tighten up what ain't tight
What gravity's ruined
They try to fix with a knife
What's pleasant in the darkness
Is plain scary in the light
Gross
+++++
"Semper Fi" The video is comprised of several performances
My father met Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1945
The war at last was over then
And they were still alive
Her husband was the President
Till he ran out of time
Her Franklin D. was history
And they'd put him on the dime
My father joined the leathernecks
To stay out of the mines
The new marine was just fifteen
In 1939
There were medals and malaria
The south pacific war
Through jungles that were paradise
And were paradise no more
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
Some of the men who did survive
Were not the lucky ones
War is only good for those
Who make and sell the guns
My father lay recovering
The hurt was all inside
Sometimes the wounds that never heal
Are easiest to hide
When Eleanor came bearing gifts
To San Francisco Bay
She gave my dad a blanket
In the hospital that day
That blanket meant a lot to him
My mother has it still
Some forget the kindnesses
That others never will
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
+++++
"Part Of Your Own"
I wish that you could live forever
And that I could be there too
And that there'd be generations
To look after me and you
But I know that isn't likely
So I guess I'll say it now
That I'll love you past the boundaries
That time and breath allow
You were my first memory
We were playing in the grass
Like the colors of your apron
Love was colored in to last
Chorus
And I'm glad the light still hits your face
And I'm glad every time you answer the phone
For you life and home have never been an easy place
And I'm glad to be part of your own
You were the foundation
That we built my life upon
First with Dad and Cass and Mary
Then one was sick and one was gone
People only get one family
And a lot of them are rough
I'm glad the one I got was one
That wasn't hard to love
I hope I have your toughness
Along with your will to be kind
And know as I am one of yours
That you are one of mine
Chorus
+++++
"Where The Bottles Break"
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim up on the wall
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim
From my end of the southside drag
It's a common thought to call the cops
Further west it's been gentrified
They turned biker bars into flower shops
I kind of miss those Harley guys
Who rarely did a body harm
They mostly liked to drink and shout
And flash the pictures on their arms
It happens when the money come
The wild and poor get pushed aside
It happens when the money come
The poor get pushed
The buyers come from somewhere else
And raise the rent so you can't hide
The buyers come from out of state
And they raise the rent
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
And who cares
I don't wanna know what his girlfriend doesn't wear
It's a shame that the people at work
Wanna hear about this kind of jerk
These people aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
People aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town and keep it rough
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
+++++
"The Sentinel"
no lyrics available
+++++
"I Saw A Stranger With Your Hair"
I saw a stranger with your hair
Tried to make her give it back
So I could send it off to you
Maybe Federal Express
'Cause I know you'd miss it
I saw another with your eyes
The flash just turned my head
I went to try them on for size
But they looked the other way
And they wouldn't listen
CHORUS:
But you're never hard to find in a crowd
The people around you smiling out loud
Their feet don't touch the ground
No, their feet don't touch the ground
No, their feet don't touch the ground
I heard a stranger with your voice
It took me by surprise
Again I found it wasn't you
Just an angel in disguise
In for a visit
By the way how is my heart
I haven't seen it since you left
I'm almost sure it followed you
Could you sometime send it back
I'll buy the ticket
CHORUS
I saw a stranger with your hair
I saw another with your eyes
I heard an angel with your voice
By the way how is my heart
By the way how is my heart
+++++
"Raven In The Storm"
I'm the latest apparition
Cutting slices in the night
I come through without permission
Moving in and out of human sight
I'm the tapping on your shoulder
I'm the raven in the storm
I'll take shelter in your rafters
I'm the shiver when you're warm
I'm the gold in California
I'm the well in Mexico
Like the vultures in the valley
I will wait for you to go
I'm the gypsy in your pocket
I'm the horseman in your dreams
I'm the reason dogs are barking
I'm the hand that stops the scream
I'm the baby's cry that isn't
I am the distant relative
I'm the scratching in the ceiling
I'm advice you shouldn't give
I'm the ghost of a traveling salesman
My foot will be there in your door
Though I can walk through walls and windows
I will knock just like before
I'm the darkness in your daughter
I'm the spot beneath the skin
I'm the scarlet on the pavement
I am the broken heart within
I won't take a train to nowhere
I will not touch just anyone
Ask a stranger why I'm waiting
In the chamber of a gun
+++++
"Italian Girls"
I used to fall for Italian girls
They filled my dreams, they made my world
If I had moved less awkwardly
They might have had their way with me
The longer names, the darker hair
They made me weak, they made me stare
I couldn't say a word to them
Their figures so full of vitamins
I wasn't cool, I wasn't bad
I was the only one I ever had
And they posessed the world's delights
Espresso mornings, lasagna nights
(Chorus)
Oh, the Italian girls
The Italian girls
They made my world
They were strong and they were proud
Some were sweet and some were loud
They'd fill me up with what they'd cook
And put me down with just one look
I followed them through summertime
I made them laugh, I made them rhymes
But they left me there for other ones
Who had the dough when day was done
Just one thing keep me free
They were not in love with me
Now they've married and gained some weight
But that weight I appreciate
For it's the work of all those meals
And what you eat is what you feel
(Chorus)
For the Italian girls
The Italian girls
They made my world
I used to fall for Italian girls
They filled my dreams, they made my world
But passion dies and fades away
Or lives to fight another day
+++++
Here's an article offering brief describing/interpreting various Gorka songs.
"Love is Our Cross To Bear"
I didn't know where to look for you last night
I didn't know where to find you
I didn't know how I could touch that light
That's always gathering behind you
I didn't know that I would find a way
To find you in the morning
But love can pull you out of yesterday
As it takes you without warning
I want to be a long time friend to you
I want to be a long time known
Not one of your memory's used-to-bes
A summer's fading song
CHORUS:
It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear
I know I'll think of us upon that hill
With the golden moon arising
And the stars will fall around us still
While the love is realizing
And so it is until we meet again
And I throw my arms around you
You can count the gray hairs in my head
I'll still be thankful that I found you
CHORUS:
It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear
+++++
"I'm From New Jersey"
I'm from New Jersey
I don't expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust
I'm from New Jersey
No I don't talk that way
I watched too much TV
When I was young
I'm from New Jersey
My mom's Italian
I've read those mafia books
We don't belong
There are girls from New Jersey
Who have that great big hair
They're found in shopping malls
I will take you there
I'm from New Jersey
It's not like Texas
There is no mystery
I can't pretend
I'm from New Jersey
It's like Ohio
But even more so
Imagine that
I know which exit
And where I'm bound
The tolls on the parkway
They will slow you down
New Jersey people
They will surprise you
Cause they're not expected
To do too much
They will try harder
They may go further
Cause they never think
That they are good enough
I'm from New Jersey
I don't expect too much
If the world ended today
I would adjust
I would adjust
I would adjust
+++++
"The Gypsy Life"
There is nothing in my head today
Nothing awful there to ponder or confuse me
Go ahead in what you have to say
And I will listen as I listen to the news
I know the whole truth there is horrible
It's better if you take a little at a time
Too much and you are not portable
Not enough and you'll be making happy rhymes
Chorus
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
If you choose to settle in one place
You may be harder over on the ones you love
Like a tree without the growing space
You will be taking from below and from above
Chorus:
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
There is nothing in my head today
I'll cross the river people as I cross my heart
The pigeon bridges are a place to stay
I will go under as I try to do my part
Chorus
You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you're leaving
Soon
+++++
"Armed With A Broken Heart"
Take this as a warning
To stay away from me
Because the man that you used to know
Is not the man that you're going to see
Someday we may laugh at this
Someday we may be friends
But for now you can keep your distance
Stay away till the pieces mend
(2)
This sudden loneliness has made me dangerous
Please don't watch me while I fall apart
'Cause I'm sad and I'm angry
And armed with a broken heart
(3)
And what will get me through the night
Is what I'll use with all my might
And to some peace I have a right
But I pay so dearly
And at my age I should be wise
Now I'm untying all those ties
The evidence is in the eyes
That should see so clearly
I once saw so clearly
(4)
You know I will say anything
If it will keep you away
But I don't know what I would do
If you said you were gonna stay
Don't do me any favors
Don't try to ease the pain
Won't you please let me hate you now
So I won't fall for you again
(Repeat stanza 3, then stanza 2)
+++++
"People My Age"
People my age
Have started looking gross
I cannot say all
And I shouldn't say most
I've seen 'em in the grocery
I've seen 'em up close
And people my age
Have started looking gross
People my age
Are showing some wear
There's holes where their teeth was
And their heads have gone bare
Their brains are shrinking
Faces sinking into fat
And as for the mirror
We won't be looking into that
People my age
Have started looking gross
Maybe not in Colorado
Or up the Silicon Coast
Back in Pennsylvania
I'd eat scrapple on toast
Those were my first steps
On the road to looking gross
People my age
Are looking overripe
Some are getting operations
To tighten up what ain't tight
What gravity's ruined
They try to fix with a knife
What's pleasant in the darkness
Is plain scary in the light
Gross
+++++
"Semper Fi" The video is comprised of several performances
My father met Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1945
The war at last was over then
And they were still alive
Her husband was the President
Till he ran out of time
Her Franklin D. was history
And they'd put him on the dime
My father joined the leathernecks
To stay out of the mines
The new marine was just fifteen
In 1939
There were medals and malaria
The south pacific war
Through jungles that were paradise
And were paradise no more
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
Some of the men who did survive
Were not the lucky ones
War is only good for those
Who make and sell the guns
My father lay recovering
The hurt was all inside
Sometimes the wounds that never heal
Are easiest to hide
When Eleanor came bearing gifts
To San Francisco Bay
She gave my dad a blanket
In the hospital that day
That blanket meant a lot to him
My mother has it still
Some forget the kindnesses
That others never will
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
+++++
"Part Of Your Own"
I wish that you could live forever
And that I could be there too
And that there'd be generations
To look after me and you
But I know that isn't likely
So I guess I'll say it now
That I'll love you past the boundaries
That time and breath allow
You were my first memory
We were playing in the grass
Like the colors of your apron
Love was colored in to last
Chorus
And I'm glad the light still hits your face
And I'm glad every time you answer the phone
For you life and home have never been an easy place
And I'm glad to be part of your own
You were the foundation
That we built my life upon
First with Dad and Cass and Mary
Then one was sick and one was gone
People only get one family
And a lot of them are rough
I'm glad the one I got was one
That wasn't hard to love
I hope I have your toughness
Along with your will to be kind
And know as I am one of yours
That you are one of mine
Chorus
+++++
"Where The Bottles Break"
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim up on the wall
Four blocks from the steel mill blasts
I paint my claim
From my end of the southside drag
It's a common thought to call the cops
Further west it's been gentrified
They turned biker bars into flower shops
I kind of miss those Harley guys
Who rarely did a body harm
They mostly liked to drink and shout
And flash the pictures on their arms
It happens when the money come
The wild and poor get pushed aside
It happens when the money come
The poor get pushed
The buyers come from somewhere else
And raise the rent so you can't hide
The buyers come from out of state
And they raise the rent
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
And who cares
I don't wanna know what his girlfriend doesn't wear
It's a shame that the people at work
Wanna hear about this kind of jerk
These people aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
People aren't saints
No people just are
They wanna feel like they count
They wanna ride in their own car
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town and keep it rough
I just wanna make enough
To buy this town
Buy low sell high
You get rich and you still die
Money talks and people jump
Ask how high low-life Donald what's-his-name
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back for more
I walk where the bottles break
And the blacktop still comes back
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music comes up through the floor
I live where the neighbors yell
And their music wakes me up
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious as basketball
Life beyond the playground fence
Is serious
+++++
"The Sentinel"
no lyrics available
+++++
"I Saw A Stranger With Your Hair"
I saw a stranger with your hair
Tried to make her give it back
So I could send it off to you
Maybe Federal Express
'Cause I know you'd miss it
I saw another with your eyes
The flash just turned my head
I went to try them on for size
But they looked the other way
And they wouldn't listen
CHORUS:
But you're never hard to find in a crowd
The people around you smiling out loud
Their feet don't touch the ground
No, their feet don't touch the ground
No, their feet don't touch the ground
I heard a stranger with your voice
It took me by surprise
Again I found it wasn't you
Just an angel in disguise
In for a visit
By the way how is my heart
I haven't seen it since you left
I'm almost sure it followed you
Could you sometime send it back
I'll buy the ticket
CHORUS
I saw a stranger with your hair
I saw another with your eyes
I heard an angel with your voice
By the way how is my heart
By the way how is my heart
+++++
"Raven In The Storm"
I'm the latest apparition
Cutting slices in the night
I come through without permission
Moving in and out of human sight
I'm the tapping on your shoulder
I'm the raven in the storm
I'll take shelter in your rafters
I'm the shiver when you're warm
I'm the gold in California
I'm the well in Mexico
Like the vultures in the valley
I will wait for you to go
I'm the gypsy in your pocket
I'm the horseman in your dreams
I'm the reason dogs are barking
I'm the hand that stops the scream
I'm the baby's cry that isn't
I am the distant relative
I'm the scratching in the ceiling
I'm advice you shouldn't give
I'm the ghost of a traveling salesman
My foot will be there in your door
Though I can walk through walls and windows
I will knock just like before
I'm the darkness in your daughter
I'm the spot beneath the skin
I'm the scarlet on the pavement
I am the broken heart within
I won't take a train to nowhere
I will not touch just anyone
Ask a stranger why I'm waiting
In the chamber of a gun
+++++
"Italian Girls"
I used to fall for Italian girls
They filled my dreams, they made my world
If I had moved less awkwardly
They might have had their way with me
The longer names, the darker hair
They made me weak, they made me stare
I couldn't say a word to them
Their figures so full of vitamins
I wasn't cool, I wasn't bad
I was the only one I ever had
And they posessed the world's delights
Espresso mornings, lasagna nights
(Chorus)
Oh, the Italian girls
The Italian girls
They made my world
They were strong and they were proud
Some were sweet and some were loud
They'd fill me up with what they'd cook
And put me down with just one look
I followed them through summertime
I made them laugh, I made them rhymes
But they left me there for other ones
Who had the dough when day was done
Just one thing keep me free
They were not in love with me
Now they've married and gained some weight
But that weight I appreciate
For it's the work of all those meals
And what you eat is what you feel
(Chorus)
For the Italian girls
The Italian girls
They made my world
I used to fall for Italian girls
They filled my dreams, they made my world
But passion dies and fades away
Or lives to fight another day
+++++
Here's an article offering brief describing/interpreting various Gorka songs.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Mary Chapin Carpenter "In My Heaven" "The Moon and St. Christopher" "Stones In The Road" "Between Here And Gone"
Mary Chapin Carpenter has loads of enjoyable songs but it's always been her most introspective creations that have grabbed me. Below are some of those offerings:
Nothing shatters nothing breaks
Nothing hurts and nothing aches
We've got ourselves one helluva place in my heaven
Looking down at the world below
A bunch of whining, fighting schmo's
Up here we've got none of those, in my heaven
There's pools and lakes and hills and mountains
Music, art, and lighted fountains
Who needs bucks here, no one's counting
In my heaven
No one works, we all just play
We pick the weather everyday
If you change your mind, that's ok, in my heaven
Grandma's up here, Grandpa too
In a condo with to-die-for views
There's presidents and movie stars
You just come as you are
No one's lost and no one's missing
No more parting just hugs and kissing
And all these stars are just for wishing
In my heaven
There's little white lights everywhere
Your childhood dog in Dad's old chair
And more memories than my heart can hold
When Eva's singing "Fields of Gold"
There's neighbors, thieves and long lost lovers
Villains, poets, kings and mothers
Up here we forgive each other, in my heaven
For every soul that's down there waiting,
Holding on, still hesitating
We say a prayer of levitating, in my heaven
You can look back at your life and lot
But it can't matter what you're not
By the time you're here, we're all we've got
In my heaven
In my heaven
In my heaven
+++++
When I was young I spoke like a child, and I saw with a child's eyes
And an open door was to a girl like the stars are to the sky
It's funny how the world lives up to all your expectations
With adventures for the stout of heart, and the lure of the open spaces
There's two lanes running down this road, whichever side you're on
Accounts for where you want to go, or what you're running from
Back when darkness overtook me on a blind man's curve
I relied upon the moon, I relied upon the moon
I relied upon the moon and Saint Christopher
Now I've paid my dues cuz I have owed them, but I've paid a price sometimes
For being such a stubborn woman in such stubborn times
Now I have run from the arms of lovers, I've run from the eyes of friends
I have run from the hands of kindness, I've run just because I can
But now I'm grown and I speak like a woman and I see with a woman's eyes
And an open door is to me now like the saddest of goodbyes
It's too late for turning back, I pray for the heart and the nerve
And I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher
I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher
to be my guide
+++++
When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our lives
The classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eye
We learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertime
Reminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty minds
And the stones in the road shone like diamonds in the dust
And then a voice called to us to make our way back home
When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd
To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town
His widow kneeled with all their children at the sacred burial ground
And the TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down
And the stones in the road flew out beneath our bicycle tires
Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home
And now we drink our coffee on the run, we climb that ladder rung by rung
We are the daughters and the sons, and here's the line that's missing
The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the street
We give a dollar when we pass, and hope our eyes don't meet
We pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suite
We kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt
And the stones in the road fly out from beneath our wheels
Another day, another deal, before we get back home
And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came
A thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know
+++++
Tonight the moon came up, it was nearly full
Way down here on earth, I could feel its pull
The weight of gravity, or just the lure of light
Made me want to leave my only home tonight
Now I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in a photograph or a dashboard poet's song?
Will I have missed my chance to right some ancient wrong?
Should I find myself between here and gone ...
Now I could grab my keys and peel out in my truck
With every saint on board bringing me their luck
I could drive too fast, like a midnight thief
As if there was a way to outrun the grief
Now I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
In the song that's left behind, in the dream I couldn't wake from
Could I have felt the brush of a soul that's passing on?
Somewhere in between here and gone ...
Up above me, wayward angels
A blur of wings and grace
One for courage, one for safety
One for just in case ...
I thought a light went out, but now a candle shines
I thought my tears wouldn't stop, but then I dried my eyes
And after all of this, the truth that holds me here
is that this emptiness is something not to fear
Yeah, I'll keep wondering how we know where we belong
After all the journeys made and the journeys yet to come
When I feel like giving up instead of going on
Somewhere in between .....
Yeah, I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in the arc of the moon leaving shadows on the lawn?
In the path of fireflies and a single bird at dawn?
Singing in between here and gone
Nothing shatters nothing breaks
Nothing hurts and nothing aches
We've got ourselves one helluva place in my heaven
Looking down at the world below
A bunch of whining, fighting schmo's
Up here we've got none of those, in my heaven
There's pools and lakes and hills and mountains
Music, art, and lighted fountains
Who needs bucks here, no one's counting
In my heaven
No one works, we all just play
We pick the weather everyday
If you change your mind, that's ok, in my heaven
Grandma's up here, Grandpa too
In a condo with to-die-for views
There's presidents and movie stars
You just come as you are
No one's lost and no one's missing
No more parting just hugs and kissing
And all these stars are just for wishing
In my heaven
There's little white lights everywhere
Your childhood dog in Dad's old chair
And more memories than my heart can hold
When Eva's singing "Fields of Gold"
There's neighbors, thieves and long lost lovers
Villains, poets, kings and mothers
Up here we forgive each other, in my heaven
For every soul that's down there waiting,
Holding on, still hesitating
We say a prayer of levitating, in my heaven
You can look back at your life and lot
But it can't matter what you're not
By the time you're here, we're all we've got
In my heaven
In my heaven
In my heaven
+++++
When I was young I spoke like a child, and I saw with a child's eyes
And an open door was to a girl like the stars are to the sky
It's funny how the world lives up to all your expectations
With adventures for the stout of heart, and the lure of the open spaces
There's two lanes running down this road, whichever side you're on
Accounts for where you want to go, or what you're running from
Back when darkness overtook me on a blind man's curve
I relied upon the moon, I relied upon the moon
I relied upon the moon and Saint Christopher
Now I've paid my dues cuz I have owed them, but I've paid a price sometimes
For being such a stubborn woman in such stubborn times
Now I have run from the arms of lovers, I've run from the eyes of friends
I have run from the hands of kindness, I've run just because I can
But now I'm grown and I speak like a woman and I see with a woman's eyes
And an open door is to me now like the saddest of goodbyes
It's too late for turning back, I pray for the heart and the nerve
And I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher
I rely upon the moon, I rely upon the moon
I rely upon the moon and Saint Christopher
to be my guide
+++++
When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our lives
The classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eye
We learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertime
Reminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty minds
And the stones in the road shone like diamonds in the dust
And then a voice called to us to make our way back home
When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd
To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town
His widow kneeled with all their children at the sacred burial ground
And the TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down
And the stones in the road flew out beneath our bicycle tires
Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home
And now we drink our coffee on the run, we climb that ladder rung by rung
We are the daughters and the sons, and here's the line that's missing
The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the street
We give a dollar when we pass, and hope our eyes don't meet
We pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suite
We kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt
And the stones in the road fly out from beneath our wheels
Another day, another deal, before we get back home
And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came
A thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know
+++++
Tonight the moon came up, it was nearly full
Way down here on earth, I could feel its pull
The weight of gravity, or just the lure of light
Made me want to leave my only home tonight
Now I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in a photograph or a dashboard poet's song?
Will I have missed my chance to right some ancient wrong?
Should I find myself between here and gone ...
Now I could grab my keys and peel out in my truck
With every saint on board bringing me their luck
I could drive too fast, like a midnight thief
As if there was a way to outrun the grief
Now I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
In the song that's left behind, in the dream I couldn't wake from
Could I have felt the brush of a soul that's passing on?
Somewhere in between here and gone ...
Up above me, wayward angels
A blur of wings and grace
One for courage, one for safety
One for just in case ...
I thought a light went out, but now a candle shines
I thought my tears wouldn't stop, but then I dried my eyes
And after all of this, the truth that holds me here
is that this emptiness is something not to fear
Yeah, I'll keep wondering how we know where we belong
After all the journeys made and the journeys yet to come
When I feel like giving up instead of going on
Somewhere in between .....
Yeah, I'm just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in the arc of the moon leaving shadows on the lawn?
In the path of fireflies and a single bird at dawn?
Singing in between here and gone
Ellis Paul "Angel In Manhattan"
Ellis Paul is another artist with a bevy of intriguing and lovely songs -- this is the best match of lyrics and video I could locate for him.
Tell the man who repairs the wings for angels
That one has fallen among the mortals on Bleeker Street
I lent a hand, she looked up at the steeples
As if to blame them for the pavement beneath her feet
She said, "I never much liked flying, but the job requires trying
The hard part's avoiding buildings and concrete"
(chorus)
Spread the news, 'cause there's an angel in Manhattan
Call out the paparazzi and the television crews
Let the people choose
Would a little Faith come to harm them?
Print the headlines up in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
A Tuesday afternoon
I hailed a cab, a crowd gathered as it pulled beside us
And somebody tore at her wings, but I helped her safely inside
"I'm much obliged," she said, but the driver he looked shaken
He said, "You're fakin', lady, who's taking who for a ride"
But then we floated up over the traffic, she turned the radio to static,
And she sang to him in Billy Holiday's sweet voice
(chorus)
Spread the news, 'cause there's an angel in Manhattan
Call out the paparazzi and the the television crews
Hey if you choose
Would a little faith come to harm you?
Print the headlines up in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
What will the mayor say?
"Good afternoon"
We flew down the length of Fifth Avenue
She threw out miracles, it was a hysterical ride
And if the crowd on the sidewalk looked skeptical
She took the blue right out of their cynical eyes
"It's all in what you feel inside"
She shook the mayor's hand, and he declared
That he'd hold a press conference,
The fans and protesters blocked the stairs to city hall
"I'd like to thank you all," he said
And when she stepped before the cameras
It felt like a trial, but she smiled as the questions were called,
"What do you say to detractors, who claim you're just some actor?"
She said, "The question here, is 'Do I believe in you?'"
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
(chorus)
Spread the news, I saw an an angel fly from Manhattan
In front of paparazzi, in front of television crews
And me I choose
I know a little faith wouldn't harm me
Despite what they print in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
Like any day
Tell the man who repairs the wings for angels
That one has fallen among the mortals on Bleeker Street
I lent a hand, she looked up at the steeples
As if to blame them for the pavement beneath her feet
She said, "I never much liked flying, but the job requires trying
The hard part's avoiding buildings and concrete"
(chorus)
Spread the news, 'cause there's an angel in Manhattan
Call out the paparazzi and the television crews
Let the people choose
Would a little Faith come to harm them?
Print the headlines up in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
A Tuesday afternoon
I hailed a cab, a crowd gathered as it pulled beside us
And somebody tore at her wings, but I helped her safely inside
"I'm much obliged," she said, but the driver he looked shaken
He said, "You're fakin', lady, who's taking who for a ride"
But then we floated up over the traffic, she turned the radio to static,
And she sang to him in Billy Holiday's sweet voice
(chorus)
Spread the news, 'cause there's an angel in Manhattan
Call out the paparazzi and the the television crews
Hey if you choose
Would a little faith come to harm you?
Print the headlines up in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
What will the mayor say?
"Good afternoon"
We flew down the length of Fifth Avenue
She threw out miracles, it was a hysterical ride
And if the crowd on the sidewalk looked skeptical
She took the blue right out of their cynical eyes
"It's all in what you feel inside"
She shook the mayor's hand, and he declared
That he'd hold a press conference,
The fans and protesters blocked the stairs to city hall
"I'd like to thank you all," he said
And when she stepped before the cameras
It felt like a trial, but she smiled as the questions were called,
"What do you say to detractors, who claim you're just some actor?"
She said, "The question here, is 'Do I believe in you?'"
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
(chorus)
Spread the news, I saw an an angel fly from Manhattan
In front of paparazzi, in front of television crews
And me I choose
I know a little faith wouldn't harm me
Despite what they print in the New York Daily News
It was just another day
Like any other, other day
Like any day
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The underrated and unknown
Mario Tarradell begins his article with a nod to Jackson Brown and then goes on to honor the underrated and unknown singer-songwriters, those who deserve much more attention.
Among those heralded: Jimmy LaFave, Grace Pettis, John Gorka, Mindy Smith and Gretchen Peters.
Among those heralded: Jimmy LaFave, Grace Pettis, John Gorka, Mindy Smith and Gretchen Peters.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Heavens, a Top 10 folk music article
Grantland, of all sites, offers a folk music article, one by Molly Lambert on a Top 10 -- not sure criteria/parameters used but just be thankful for the genre being highlighted.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
More Ferron "Girl On A Road" "Snowin' In Brooklyn" "Ain't Life A Brook" "Shadows On A Dime" "Shadow Gate"
Ferron's "Cactus" has already been detailed here so it's time to branch out with a few other faves from her musical tree. she is such a poetess.
Girl On A Road
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
and 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? Would you like to sing it with me?
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.
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 and pull me deep inside and say I'm
one with your forgiveness and separate from my pride.
+++++
Snowin' In Brooklyn
I thank you your letters though they come to me slowly
I hear the city's in a panic with its first foot of snow
I want to answer you quickly having read you again
'Cause it sounds like you're dancing
with time's favorite friend
And it's everyone's secret and muttered refrain
That for all of our trouble we be lonely again
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
You say it's snowin' in Brooklyn
Well if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we've got.
It won't pay you to think that your move caused the break
Sweet love has its chemistry
sometimes it don't take
But you sound lke you whip yourself
you sound like you hurt
How long do you plan to sweat it in that mouldy hairshirt?
If you're thinking of coming back
then come back you will
If you're afraid of them talking, friend
They're all talking still
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
You say it's snowin' in Brooklyn
Well if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we got.
It'll be cold as the ocean if you don't take the train
But I hear if you know where you're going
You can beat half of the pain
So don't mind but I called your sister
and she'd glad take you in
You're thirty years old, admit pride doesn't win
Life moves so mysterious with its cute little spins
And it's everyone's koan and door to get in
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
I think of you often, I like you a lot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we've got.
And it's everyone's secret and muttered refrain
That for all of our trouble
For all of our trouble
For all of our trouble
We be lonely again.
+++++
Ain't Life A Brook
I watch you reading a book
I get to thinking our love's a polished stone
You give me a long drawn look
I know pretty soon you're going to leave our home
And of course I mind,
especially when I'm thinking from my heart
But life don't clickety clack down a straight line track
It comes together and it comes apart.
You say you hope I'm not the kind
To make you feel obliged
To go ticking through your time
With a pained look in your eyes
You give me the furniture, we'll divide the photographs
Go out to dinner one more time
Have ourselves a bottle of wine
And a couple of laughs
And when first you left
I stayed so sad I wouldn't sleep
I know that love's a gift, I thought yours was mine
And something that I could keep
Now I realize that time is not the only compromise
But a bird in the hand could be an all night stand
Between a blazing fire and a pocket of skies
So I hope I'm not the kind
To make you feel obliged
To go ticking through your time
With a pained look in your eyes
I covered the furniture, I framed the photographs
Went out to dinner one more time
Had myself a bottle of wine and a couple of laughs
And just the other day
I got your letter in the mail
I'm happy for you, its been so long
You've been wanting a cabin and a backwoods trail
And I think that's great...me...
I seem to find myself in school
It's all Ok, I just want to say
I'm so relieved we didn't do it cruel
But ain't life a brook
Just when I get to feeling like a polished stone
I give me along drawn look
It's kind of a drag to find yourself alone
And sometimes I mind
Especially when I'm waiting on your heart
But life don't clickety clack down a straight line track
It comes together and it comes apart.
Cause I know you're not the kind
To make me feel obliged
To go ticking through my time with a pained look
In my eyes
I sold the furniture, I put away the photographs
Went out to dinner one more time
Skipped the bottle of wine
Had a couple of laughs
And wasn't it fine....
+++++
Shadows On A Dime
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 here 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.
+++++
Shady Gate
When I was young the mom next door would
have tea at our house and she said her heart was
broke and 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 that I
remember a song the moms would sing and we'd
sing along...
"If you go through that Shady Gate
Have soneone 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 and they woke me up one night in the
middle of an awful fight and I heard him yell 'What
about my needs?' and her hiss back "Why don't you
wake up all the neighbours too but please just 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 whiel we were hanging out the laundry
and 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.
And he knocked upon the door before my next
birthday and 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 soneone 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
something 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 even just another word
for Eternity.
Girl On A Road
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
and 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? Would you like to sing it with me?
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.
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 and pull me deep inside and say I'm
one with your forgiveness and separate from my pride.
+++++
Snowin' In Brooklyn
I thank you your letters though they come to me slowly
I hear the city's in a panic with its first foot of snow
I want to answer you quickly having read you again
'Cause it sounds like you're dancing
with time's favorite friend
And it's everyone's secret and muttered refrain
That for all of our trouble we be lonely again
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
You say it's snowin' in Brooklyn
Well if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we've got.
It won't pay you to think that your move caused the break
Sweet love has its chemistry
sometimes it don't take
But you sound lke you whip yourself
you sound like you hurt
How long do you plan to sweat it in that mouldy hairshirt?
If you're thinking of coming back
then come back you will
If you're afraid of them talking, friend
They're all talking still
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
You say it's snowin' in Brooklyn
Well if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we got.
It'll be cold as the ocean if you don't take the train
But I hear if you know where you're going
You can beat half of the pain
So don't mind but I called your sister
and she'd glad take you in
You're thirty years old, admit pride doesn't win
Life moves so mysterious with its cute little spins
And it's everyone's koan and door to get in
It's old human nature,
It's cold or it's hot
I think of you often, I like you a lot
But if it's snowin' in Brooklyn
I'd say snow's what we've got.
And it's everyone's secret and muttered refrain
That for all of our trouble
For all of our trouble
For all of our trouble
We be lonely again.
+++++
Ain't Life A Brook
I watch you reading a book
I get to thinking our love's a polished stone
You give me a long drawn look
I know pretty soon you're going to leave our home
And of course I mind,
especially when I'm thinking from my heart
But life don't clickety clack down a straight line track
It comes together and it comes apart.
You say you hope I'm not the kind
To make you feel obliged
To go ticking through your time
With a pained look in your eyes
You give me the furniture, we'll divide the photographs
Go out to dinner one more time
Have ourselves a bottle of wine
And a couple of laughs
And when first you left
I stayed so sad I wouldn't sleep
I know that love's a gift, I thought yours was mine
And something that I could keep
Now I realize that time is not the only compromise
But a bird in the hand could be an all night stand
Between a blazing fire and a pocket of skies
So I hope I'm not the kind
To make you feel obliged
To go ticking through your time
With a pained look in your eyes
I covered the furniture, I framed the photographs
Went out to dinner one more time
Had myself a bottle of wine and a couple of laughs
And just the other day
I got your letter in the mail
I'm happy for you, its been so long
You've been wanting a cabin and a backwoods trail
And I think that's great...me...
I seem to find myself in school
It's all Ok, I just want to say
I'm so relieved we didn't do it cruel
But ain't life a brook
Just when I get to feeling like a polished stone
I give me along drawn look
It's kind of a drag to find yourself alone
And sometimes I mind
Especially when I'm waiting on your heart
But life don't clickety clack down a straight line track
It comes together and it comes apart.
Cause I know you're not the kind
To make me feel obliged
To go ticking through my time with a pained look
In my eyes
I sold the furniture, I put away the photographs
Went out to dinner one more time
Skipped the bottle of wine
Had a couple of laughs
And wasn't it fine....
+++++
Shadows On A Dime
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 here 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.
+++++
Shady Gate
When I was young the mom next door would
have tea at our house and she said her heart was
broke and 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 that I
remember a song the moms would sing and we'd
sing along...
"If you go through that Shady Gate
Have soneone 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 and they woke me up one night in the
middle of an awful fight and I heard him yell 'What
about my needs?' and her hiss back "Why don't you
wake up all the neighbours too but please just 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 whiel we were hanging out the laundry
and 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.
And he knocked upon the door before my next
birthday and 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 soneone 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
something 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 even just another word
for Eternity.
Lucy Kaplansky "Guinevere" "10 Year Night" "Land of the Living"
Here are a trio of Lucy Kaplansky's best (in my humble opinion).
Guinevere
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
Am I some dancing Lancelot who only falls in love
With a woman who belongs to someone else
Is it just the blood of Paris running through my veins
That sees and takes a woman and myself I can't restrain
Is this knight of cups in his noble stance
Just a jack of clubs with an eye askance
On the queen of hearts in her royal blue
I may shield the poor but I can't save you
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
Golden apples on the mountain this one fell to me
We are planets in a heartless gravity
I never chose to make a choice
It felt like someone else's voice
Saying all those crazy things down on one knee
Cassandra never cast a shadow now it's heading to the shore
Oh the face that launched a thousand ships is sailing one more
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
+++++
10 Year Night
There is no one else around the road is quiet, the only sound
Is wind that sounds like cars that sound like breathing
The desert air is hot and dry two lanes weaving earth and sky
The stars are all that's keeping time till morning
And I turn and look beside me and you're sleeping like a baby
And you haven't heard a word that I've been saying
And the way you look tonight fast asleep in the dashboard light
Well I can't speak that's how I feel
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
We're ten years older, I know we are
Than the night we met in that downtown bar
You thought I was some kind of star
That's what you said
I felt your skin, I felt the heat
As you pulled me out into the street
And you kissed me there till I was weak
'Cause I asked you to
And later on your kitchen floor
Two flights above the grocery store
I felt things I never felt before and I still do
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
Going eighty on the highway
We're all rushing somewhere
But the way I feel tonight
It's like I'm already there
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
+++++
Land of the Living
Late afternoon back in New York town
Waking up as the wheels touch down
Pick up my guitar and walk away
Wish I was going home to stay
Line of taxis, I wait my turn
Tar and asphalt, exhaust and fumes
Beside the road on a patch of ground
Taxi drivers are kneeling down
Beneath the concrete sky I watch them pray
While the people of the world hurry on their way
I think they're praying for us all today
And the stories that fell from the sky that day
CHORUS:
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Back home fire's still burning, I can see it in the air
Pictures of faces posted everywhere
They say "hazel eyes, chestnut hair
Mother of two missing down there"
I pass the firemen on duty tonight
Carpets of flowers in candlelight
And thank you in a child's scrawl
Taped to the Third Street firehouse wall
There's shadows of the lost on the faces I see
Brothers and strangers on this island of grief
There's death in the air but there's life on this street
There's life on this street
CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Then I got in a taxi, said "Hudson Street please"
He started the meter and he looked at me
I glanced at his name on the back of his seat
And I looked out the window at the ghost filled streets
I noticed cuts on his hand and his face
And I said "You're bleeding, are you okay?"
He said "I'm not so good, got beat up today
And I'm not one of them no matter what they say
I'm just worried about my family
My wife's in the house and she's scared to leave"
And I didn't know what to say
I didn't know what to say
But I said a prayer for him anyway
CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Guinevere
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
Am I some dancing Lancelot who only falls in love
With a woman who belongs to someone else
Is it just the blood of Paris running through my veins
That sees and takes a woman and myself I can't restrain
Is this knight of cups in his noble stance
Just a jack of clubs with an eye askance
On the queen of hearts in her royal blue
I may shield the poor but I can't save you
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
Golden apples on the mountain this one fell to me
We are planets in a heartless gravity
I never chose to make a choice
It felt like someone else's voice
Saying all those crazy things down on one knee
Cassandra never cast a shadow now it's heading to the shore
Oh the face that launched a thousand ships is sailing one more
Guinevere in my castle in Normandy
Make a new home with me come follow me down
Guinevere all my honor and glory
Will just be a story of the fall of the crown
+++++
10 Year Night
There is no one else around the road is quiet, the only sound
Is wind that sounds like cars that sound like breathing
The desert air is hot and dry two lanes weaving earth and sky
The stars are all that's keeping time till morning
And I turn and look beside me and you're sleeping like a baby
And you haven't heard a word that I've been saying
And the way you look tonight fast asleep in the dashboard light
Well I can't speak that's how I feel
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
We're ten years older, I know we are
Than the night we met in that downtown bar
You thought I was some kind of star
That's what you said
I felt your skin, I felt the heat
As you pulled me out into the street
And you kissed me there till I was weak
'Cause I asked you to
And later on your kitchen floor
Two flights above the grocery store
I felt things I never felt before and I still do
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
Going eighty on the highway
We're all rushing somewhere
But the way I feel tonight
It's like I'm already there
Open your eyes and look at me and look at me
Open your eyes and look at me
'Cause I have and hold this love for you
Before this ten year night is through, I'm telling you
Take it from me, take it from me
+++++
Land of the Living
Late afternoon back in New York town
Waking up as the wheels touch down
Pick up my guitar and walk away
Wish I was going home to stay
Line of taxis, I wait my turn
Tar and asphalt, exhaust and fumes
Beside the road on a patch of ground
Taxi drivers are kneeling down
Beneath the concrete sky I watch them pray
While the people of the world hurry on their way
I think they're praying for us all today
And the stories that fell from the sky that day
CHORUS:
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Back home fire's still burning, I can see it in the air
Pictures of faces posted everywhere
They say "hazel eyes, chestnut hair
Mother of two missing down there"
I pass the firemen on duty tonight
Carpets of flowers in candlelight
And thank you in a child's scrawl
Taped to the Third Street firehouse wall
There's shadows of the lost on the faces I see
Brothers and strangers on this island of grief
There's death in the air but there's life on this street
There's life on this street
CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
Then I got in a taxi, said "Hudson Street please"
He started the meter and he looked at me
I glanced at his name on the back of his seat
And I looked out the window at the ghost filled streets
I noticed cuts on his hand and his face
And I said "You're bleeding, are you okay?"
He said "I'm not so good, got beat up today
And I'm not one of them no matter what they say
I'm just worried about my family
My wife's in the house and she's scared to leave"
And I didn't know what to say
I didn't know what to say
But I said a prayer for him anyway
CHORUS
This is the land of the living
This is the land that's mine
She still watches over Manhattan
She's still holding onto that torch for life
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