Sunday, June 28, 2015

"All That Is' - Garnet Rogers

Just one of Garnet Rogers' best:

"Who can tell when in love you'll finally fall? 
Some live in vain and never love at all 
But as lightning strikes or as a small insistent voice 
Of we are blessed we will hear and heed the call 

Give your love and never count the cost 
Lose your heart and never call it lost 
May your love be your shelter to the ending of your days 
Love is all that is, all that ever was 

May your love grow strong and always kind 
May your hearts grow forever more entwined 
In the brightest day or the stillness of the night 
May it be each others hand you seek and find 

Never more to be alone 
Ever closer you have grown 
Forever now may no distance come between 
And in each other's loving hearts you find a home"

"Family" - Pierce Pettis

One of Pierce Pettis' best:

"Can you fix this
Its a broken heart
It was fine
Can you fix this
Its a broken heart
It was fine
Then it just fell apart
It was mine
But now I give it to you
Cause you can fix it
You know what to do

Let your love cover me
Like a pair of angel wings
You are my family
You are my family

We stood outside
In the summer rain
Different people
With a common pain
A simple box
In that hard red clay
Where we left him
To always remain

[CHORUS]

The child who played
With the moon and stars
Waves a snatch of hay
In a common barn
In the lonely house
Of Adam's fall
Lies a child
Just a child that's all ... crying

[CHORUS]"

Could not find a Pettis video but Dar Williams does a superb version:

Monday, June 22, 2015

John Prine has so many touching songs -- here's one of his best

"Hello In There" would move an Easter Island stone head but tops is "Sam Stone." The line: "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes" cannot be topped. Uttered by a child and just so much like a youngster would directly say.



Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

[Chorus:]
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

[Chorus]

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

[Chorus]


++++++++  

Two of Kristofferson's songs

Jim Beviglia zeroes in on Kris Kristofferson's lyrics in the song "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33."

Nothing is forced. all rings true.

Here's another one that is also a Kristofferson classic: