1. |
Lafayette
04:22
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I’m sick of the cold in this place
Nobody looks me in my face
Losing time I can’t replace, every day
Don’t know why I’m here in this town
Why not disappear and not be found
And not let myself be ground down this way
Why should I stay?
I’ve been gone for too long
Everything here has gone wrong
I may not be feeling too strong
But I ain’t dead yet
Time to say my goodbyes
Hitting the road with dry eyes
I’m gonna see the sun rise in Lafayette
I’ve had enough of being alone
I think it’s time to go back home
Let in the wind and I’m blown out the door
I’m feeling better every mile
Can’t wait to be where people smile
Being a stranger’s not my style anymore
Not anymore
I’ve been gone for too long
Everything here has gone wrong
I may not be feeling too strong
But I ain’t dead yet
Time to say my goodbyes
Hitting the road with dry eyes
I’m gonna see the sun rise in Lafayette
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2. |
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Here comes another endless winter
Will I be all alone again?
Will I have to keep on writing you those letters
That I won’t know where to send?
When you’re out there on your travels
Do you ever think of me
When you’re heading for another lonely town?
Is this the way it has to be?
I don’t care where you are heading
Battle Creek or Borneo
But please take me with you when you go
Do you just let the four winds take you?
Do you know what you’re looking for?
Do you wonder when they blow you home at last
If I’ll be waiting by the door?
You know it doesn’t have to be this way
Let’s sing a different song
If you need to wander restless through the world
Then why not take me along?
I don’t care where you are heading
Timbuktu or Tupelo
But please take me with you when you go
Where will you be tomorrow?
Riding in some dusty bus
Don’t you think it would be easier to take
If it was both of us?
I don’t need a destination
Let’s just watch the river flow
But please take me with you when you go
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3. |
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You get used to life at sea
Just you and the horizon
There through all the calms and storms
It never is surprisin’
But when you’re back in port again
Nothing seems familiar
All the bars have changed their names
A friendly face might kill ya
Drydock drunken seasick sailor
Where has your ocean gone?
But like an able seaman should
You just keep sailing on
The past forever seems to drift
Farther back behind you
And if you wind up overboard
No one will ever find you
Sometimes you don’t think
You can tolerate one day more
The only thing worse than being lost at sea
Is being found on shore
Drydock drunken seasick sailor
Where has your ocean gone?
But like an able seaman should
You just keep sailing on
So you’ll just sit and think
Until they throw you out
Maybe the tide will rise again,
It’s something to think about
Maybe someone will feel the urge
To offer you a hand
And hear the story of how you got
Washed up on dry land
Drydock drunken seasick sailor
Where has your ocean gone?
But like an able seaman should
You just keep sailing on
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4. |
Broadway Street
05:16
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I went down to Broadway Street just looking for a meal
But it was coffee shops and brewpubs serving basil-crusted veal
This used to be a cowboy town, honky tonks and flops and rodeos
But now that town has vanished and where it’s gone, nobody knows
Wandering down Broadway in the unforgiving sun
Singing songs that no one wants to hear
There was a time this felt like home but now that time is done
And there’s a lot of homeless cowboys around here
I used to make a living singing in the Broadway bars
Songs of love and loneliness beneath the desert stars
But now they’re full of college kids, and all they want to do is dance
And if that ain’t your style, you haven’t got a chance
Wandering down Broadway in the unforgiving sun
Singing songs that no one wants to hear
There was a time this felt like home but now that time is done
And there’s a lot of homeless cowboys around here
Hey, friend, can I play you a song
It won’t take very long
Time was you could hear it on the radio
It was not so very long ago
Headed up toward Front Street to Billy’s Liquor Store
But all I found was condos, there’s no Billy’s anymore
Thought I might just drown myself but the riverbed was dry
Now I walk down Broadway Street and no one looks me in the eye
Wandering down Broadway in the unforgiving sun
Singing songs that no one wants to hear
There was a time this felt like home but now that time is done
And there’s a lot of homeless cowboys around here
There was a time this felt like home but now that time is done
And there’s a lot of homeless cowboys around here
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5. |
Hitchhiker
03:47
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The Sandhills whisper from the shadows
I thought I’d have to spend another night outside
This wind’s been at me, ever since Seattle
So I thank you for this ride
Sometimes the road is kind of lonely
It’s easy to get lost when I’m out on my own
I’d tell you where I’m going, if only
I knew which road would take me home
Everyone’s looking for a perfect trip
Find a family, make a friend
But I’m a hitchhiker baby
I know this ride’s gonna end
Sometimes I wish that I could settle
And things would work out so that I could call you friend
But some time soon you’ll see an exit from this road
And I’ll be stuck out here again
But I don’t want to be misunderstood
I’m glad we’re together on this long empty road
The scenery’s pretty and the company’s good
But there’s only so far we can go
Everyone’s looking for a perfect trip
Find a family, make a friend
But I’m a hitchhiker baby
I know this ride’s gonna end
It’s not that I’m not grateful for the chance
To take this journey
For a while, by your side
But I don’t really have a destination,
I work best when I’m in motion
So let’s just ride, yeah let’s just ride
Everyone’s looking for a perfect trip
Find a family, make a friend
But I’m a hitchhiker baby
I know this ride’s gonna end
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6. |
So Sioux City
05:15
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The Missouri flows beside the town
The river water's flat and brown
With the dust that blows in off the prairie
You can see the trucks from up on the ridge
Heading west across the bridge
Loaded with all that they can carry
She pictures all those little towns
What if no one ever came around
Waiting forever for their next delivery
Out there all alone, she thinks,
Wouldn't that be shitty?
My god, she laughs, I’m so Sioux City
Lewis and Clark spent a winter here
Telling lies and shooting deer
Before they headed out into the great unknown
She often thinks she might move on
Maybe Des Moines or Madison
But she knows she'd miss her family and her home
It's a risky thing, why take a chance
And put her life in someone's hands
Who didn't understand the way she saw the world?
And she would miss those prairie skies
That would be a pity
Ah, she thinks, I'm so Sioux City
Somewhere out there in the oil towns around Williston
She had a friend
He finally lost his willingness to wait for her to make a move
No more time to spend
She hung a picture in her hall
Somewhere in France, if she recalls,
Of flowers growing in a wooden window box
When winter seems like it'll never be done
She sits imagining the sun
It keeps her going till the equinox
One time he asked her why she stayed
Didn't she want to see that place
Why was she satisfied with looking at a picture?
She just shrugged and said, I think it's pretty
Man, he said, that's so Sioux City
Oh man, he said, that's so Sioux City
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7. |
River Town
04:32
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In the towns down on the river
People wonder why they stay
At the mercy of the rain
Five hundred miles away
Can’t think about tomorrow
You just try to carry on
When you don’t know what’s comin’
You won’t miss what’s gone
People watch the weather, in a river town
Even on a bright and sunny day
People know better, in a river town
You’re only one hard rain away
When you wake up in the morning
Everything may seem secure
But you know what you have built there
Is not fated to endure
You can’t ignore the water
When your house is built upon the sand
When the flood begins a-risin’
It’s something nothing will withstand
People watch the weather, in a river town
Even on a bright and sunny day
People know better, in a river town
You’re only one hard rain away
You may build the highest levee
But the river pulls it down
Some day it will make the levees crumble
And wash away your town
People watch the weather, in a river town
Even on a bright and sunny day
People know better, in a river town
You’re only one hard rain away
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8. |
About That Girl
02:58
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Have you ever had a thought that you couldn’t shake
Couldn’t get it out of your head?
Have you ever had a dream and you couldn’t wake
Couldn’t dream of something else instead?
Well this is what she is to me and I can’t escape it
No matter how I try to forget
But it’s my song to sing and it’s my life to shape
And I’m not surrendering yet
So I swear, from this day forward
Until the end of the world
This is my last song, my last song
About that girl
Well so many times in the dark of the night
I wake up lonely and lost
And there’s so many times when I try to move forward
I’m too afraid of what it will cost
But it’s time that I shook off this grieving
Stood up and said color me gone
So this is the day I start believing
That things will be better from now on
And I swear, from this day forward
Until the end of the world
This is my last song, my last song
About that girl
Oh there’s so many songs worth singing
Fiery and fearless and proud
And there’s so many people to sing to
So I’ll say it out loud
That I swear, from this day forward
Until the end of the world
This is my last song, my last song
About that girl
Yeah I swear, from this day forward
Until the end of the world
This is my last song, my last song
About that girl
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9. |
All the Way to Baltimore
03:39
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I left my home on a chilly night
I think about it still
There was nothing left to keep me there
Up in those dark hills
I went to meet the bus
When it stopped at Conley’s store
And it rained all the way to Baltimore
West Virginia mountains
Are like a bruise in my mind
Reminding me of all the people
That I left behind
But I couldn’t make the pieces fit
The way they were before
So I came all the way to Baltimore
Sometimes I think about
The songbirds in the spring
But you can’t get paid for memories
They ain’t worth a doggone thing
Now I hear the seagulls crying
Down along the shore
Stuck in this dirty city
God damn you Baltimore
But it’s mostly you I think about
When the evenings fall
I wonder what you think of me
If you think of me at all
I’ll never see your face again
Till I stand at heaven’s door
Unless you come all the way to Baltimore
Won’t you come all the way to Baltimore
All the way to Baltimore
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10. |
Kings
04:35
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It doesn’t matter who you stepped on
When you made your climb
You always knew that at the summit
The view would be sublime
Now here you are, top of the world
Nothing above but sky
Trying hard to convince yourself
You’ll never have to die
So throw your outrageous parties, Jay Gatsby style
You can live like kings, for a while
It all feels like some kind of game
Something to do after dinner
Playing a hand you dealt yourselves
Another winner
And if the people they grow restless
And turn to casting stones
You don’t have to worry about anything
On your gilded thrones
So have a fabulous time, Gloria Vanderbilt style
You can live like kings, for a while
We take care of each other
God takes care of fools
But the kings don’t need a god
Cause they make all the rules
Looking down from your palaces, in the Romanov style
You can live like kings, for a while
Looking down from your palaces, in the Romanov style
You can live like kings
Brothers you can live like kings
Yeah you can live like kings, but only for a while
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11. |
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I bought this bucket of bolts and rattles and rust
It goes where I point it and that’s all that it needs to do
People tell me that it drives like a tank, so I guess it must
And tonight I’m going to drive it away with you
We don’t have too many places we can go
People are always telling us to move on
But here inside this metal box we can head out on the road
And no one’s gonna notice that we’re gone
I don’t know how long this time is gonna last
But I’ll make it as long as I can
And we’ll make love in the light
Of the aftermarket radio installed in the dash
Of the telephone company surplus Econoline van
Here’s a nice place we can call our own for a little while
Just sitting in the night with some music on the radio
Though the lights are off I can still make out your pretty smile
When you’re lying here against me, reflected in the panel glow
I don’t know how long this time is gonna last
But I’ll make it as long as I can
And we’ll make love in the light
Of the aftermarket radio installe in the dash
Of the telephone company surplus Econoline van
I treasure this time when the world goes away & we’re left all alone
No one sees, we can make this night our own
At the end of a difficult day we can be here in the dark
Help each other shed our heavy load
Paradise is nothing but a place to park
Down at the lonely end of a country road
I don’t know how long this time is gonna last
But I’ll make it as long as I can
And we’ll make love in the light
Of the aftermarket radio installed in the dash
Of the telephone company surplus Econoline van
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12. |
Evabel Lives Here
04:43
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Just about every morning I walk these leafy streets
Familiar places I know so well
In a dark forest of promises and signs
In search of Evabel
Sometimes just living seems so perilous
I have days when nothing much is clear
But there is one thing I can count on to be true
I know that Evabel lives here
I see her shadow round every corner, in every shop
It’s like some kind of magic spell
So I keep looking, I won’t be satisfied
Till I catch sight of Evabel
Sometimes just living seems so perilous
I have days when nothing much is clear
But there is one thing I can count on to be true
I know that Evabel lives here
Once Evabel told me she would always be my friend
And that means more than I can tell
I may not understand much about this world
But I know Evabel, yeah I know Evabel
Sometimes just living seems so perilous
I have days when nothing much is clear
But there is one thing I can count on to be true
I know that Evabel lives here
Yeah there is one thing I can count on to be true
I know that Evabel lives here
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13. |
This Sedimentary Life
02:56
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Sometimes I hear voices
No one else can hear
They come from deep inside me
Carried through the years
The little boy that I once was
I keep him somewhere still
And though I’ve grown
I guess I always will
And he has wants
That I cannot fulfill
A life laid down in layers
Sheets of love and hate
All those experiences
Start to accumulate
Living high and lying low
Happiness and strife
Eventually it settles in to this
Sedimentary life
Every day I think about
My innocence and guilt
All the things I might have done
They cover me like silt
Mistakes I’ve made or barely missed
The things I’ve tried to hide
They’re all there
Preserved down deep inside
And in the end
They cannot be denied
A life laid down in layers
Sheets of love and hate
All those experiences
Start to accumulate
Living high and lying low
Happiness and strife
Eventually it settles in to this
Sedimentary life
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Rod Johnson Ann Arbor, Michigan
Singer, songwriter, not really a singer-songwriter though. Just trying to make something good.
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