IDIOMS (unreleased album, 2014/2015)
Now And Then
You and me came from crawling
To see the world, the stars come falling
The seven seas, the plains of winter
And more than I can remember
But now and then
And so be it
But now and then
I don’t see it
You and me came from others
And shared it with sisters, brothers
For a time, for forever
All alone, all together
But now and then
And so be it
But now and then
I don’t see it
You and me are bound for leaving
Eventually, and ever freeing
And someone said we can’t live forever
And no man can escape the weather
But now and then
And so be it
But now and then
I don’t see it
You and me have seen the snowing
The dead and gone, the faces glowing
The broken gold, the silver drawing
The strong and old, the young and longing
But now and then
And so be it
But now and then
I don’t see it
Your Side Of The Bed #2
Keep me awake from your side of the bed
And take me away from those dreams in my head
Is it really you lying with me tonight
Or a song I forgot how to sing
Like the ghost of a beautiful thing
Lead me to sleep with my hand on your chest
And let me behave in the way I do best
And I’ll be ashamed of my purist desired if you give me a good reason why
But you can’t give me one good reason why
Beg me awake from your side of the bed
I still won’t deny ner a word that I’ve said
Is it really me that you’ve hated so long
Of the rust on your old diamond ring
Like the song we forgot how to sing
Like the ghost of a beautiful thing
The Damndest Thing
You were the damndest thing
Something shy and always running here to there
A spotted feather in your hair
A lonely smile, broken eyes
Lonely like a paradise
And in every way that you looked at me
I knew you’d hurt eventually
You were the damndest things I’d ever seen
Someone said it’s closing time, but we’ll be fine
Your body was a friend of mine
And I remember every breath
And every shaking in your chest
And in every prayer that you prayed in vain
When I made you scream in heavens name
You are the damndest things I’ve ever seen
Something south of New Orleans and angeles
A fighter fallen on her knees
And every breath that I’ve ever prayed
Took you east of Santa Fe
To pour the water in my hair and take me underneath the stairs
Mt. Vernon, OH
You were young and so was I
When you first had caught my eye
And you never even tried, did you baby
You were shaking like the blaze
In the south of Santa Fe
I didn’t even know your name, did I baby
But we danced until the morning
And we slept through the storming
And we stayed for the light show
On a winter in Ohio
Someone said the other day
That you were really on your way
But you know what people say, don’t you baby
I don’t play with no cocaine
I don’t pull a ball and chain
But I shake to hear your name, don’t a baby
And I’m sorry I can’t find you
But I swear that I want to
I’m a prison on the bayou
And you’re a poem in Ohio
On a fashion magazine
Selling women’s gasoline
You were staring right at me, weren’t you baby
I’ll be lonely, I’ll be damned
I’ll be broke and in your hands
I’ll be anything I can to feel you, baby
I’ve been put through the ringer
I’m a liar and I linger
I don’t know where the time goes
But I’ll see you in Ohio
I’m a ghost and you’re a lady
You’re one look and I’ll go crazy
If the wintertime comes in slow
I’ll come find you in Ohio
In the hardwood and the soft snow
I’ll meet you there in Ohio
I Thought Of You Today
I thought of you today
Wondered how have things been going
Is it raining where you are
Wonder if it’s started snowing
Did you see the autumn leaves from the New York City streets
When I saw them here, it got me thinking of you
I thought of you today
Wondered how have you been doing
And are the parts of me I’ve lost
The same parts of you you’re losing
There’s a pain under my skin, and my heads a mess again
But through these clouds of mind, I’m always thinking of you
I thought of you today
About the dreams that we imagined
And if things had turned out that way
I wonder what then would have happened
Would we live in the same city, would we be apart and pretty
Or would I be right where I am, still thinking of you
And I thought of you today
About that time up in the mountains
I’d lost my Christmas cards
And lo and behold, you found them
Though I manage pretty well as far as anyone can tell
When I do lose myself, it gets me thinking of you
I thought of you today
Yeah but then again, I always do
So what would I have to say
How’s everything, tell me what’s new
We said all there was to know about a thousand years ago
But still I hope you know I’, always thinking of you
And in another thousand years, for the time that I was here
You should know that I was always thinking of you
Farewell The Dear
The good ones go, the bad ones leave
And there is no one in between
Farewell the dear, you’re bound to go
We’ll meet again on down the road
The sky was grey, her eyes were blue
And she was only twenty-two
She kissed her hand and waved goodbye
And jumped a train for Yellowknife
She came by way of Baton Rouge
With no cards to play and nothing to lose
Her eyes were blue, but sometimes green
Just like the one– Evangeline
The good ones go, the bad ones leave
And there is no one in between
Farewell the dear, you’re bound to go
We’ll meet again on down the road
She was a city in the snow
Nothing to do but somewhere to go
She left her heart in Tennessee
And lost her mind in Cherokee
God knows she did, God knows she tried
But she never could get satisfied
God knows she tried, God knows she did
But she said she had a life to live
The good ones go, the bad ones leave
And there is no one in between
Farewell the dear, you’re bound to go
We’ll meet again on down the road
So fairly we– we do depart
And so we would right from the start
And once again the hour has come
Another moon and a setting sun
The more we dance, the more a song
The more we stay, the more they’re gone
And the more she’d say, the more she’d need
To reap the sewn and sew the seed
The good ones go, the bad ones leave
And there is no one in between
Farewell the dear, you’re bound to go
We’ll meet again on down the road
Forgotten Earrings
Forgotten earrings on a stand beside my bed
Little letter full of words I’ve never read
Pretty lady, you’re calling out to me
Don’t you leave me– I’m too young to be this free
Yellow hairpin laying on my floor
Blue Jay feather, spider underneath the door
South Virginia, you seem so far away
Let’s do forever what we were going to do today
Golden Finches, lazy river in the woods
Ordinary, you’ve never looked so good
Rusty handle on a dried-up well
And we were lovers for a springtime spell
A pair of millstones, summer in the shade
I was raised in a house my grandfather made
A little cabin with a red tin roof
Muddy blue jeans and worn out shoes
You said you wanted a birddog with blue eyes
I said I wanted a birddog with yellow eyes
A dirty teacup, tracking mud across the floor
For forever, for a day and nothing more
A crazy haircut went and stole your home
He took the pine trees and the colored stones
There’s nothing sacred about the things we choose
And there’s no such thing as the “white girl blues”
Turquoise earrings, you’re a thousand miles away
Forgotten earrings, now they’re just another day
Pin oak picture in a box beside my bed
And little letters full of words I’ve never said
Turquoise earrings, you’re the one that got away
Love forever died to love another day
Picture perfect, like a thousand magazines
You forgot your hairpin and your turquoise earrings
Georgia
Georgia knows her way around the bar
She likes to hang around 'til 2 AM
She likes to see the city after dark
She likes it when the trains come by and tells me not to cover up my ears
Georgia knows her way around the town
She likes to shake from one place to the next
She likes it when the cool kids come around
She looks them in the eyes and she swears she's never been in here before
She comes to me so easily
And takes me like I'm poetry
And puts her skin against my skin
And says lets try not to do this again
Georgia knows her way around my place
She likes to leave her shoes beside the door
The sunrise burns across her pretty face
She pulls under the covers and she tells me i should go let down the blinds
Georgia wants a coffee on the street
And to watch the dogs come out on Saturday
She likes the city underneath her feet
She wants to smoke a cigarette and swears she's gonna give them up someday
She comes with me so easily
And takes me like I'm poetry
And puts her lips against my lips
And says she's had about enough of this
Georgia knows her way around the bars
She's been down here since she was seventeen
She likes to say she dabbles in the arts
In a barroom full of animals she'll look for one that’s bearable
The kindest sweetest so and so, and finally end up settling for me
She comes* for me so easily
And takes me like I'm poetry
And puts her heart against my heart
And says let's go back out tomorrow night
And we'll be young
And we'll have fun
And we'll come home
Longhand Poetry
There was a time I couldn’t find the words
To roll like a stone or sing like a little bird
And time was a sinking boat that I lived upon
And love was a name I wrote til the boat was gone
And lately I’ve been thinking
When it’s said and done
Will you take me home
There was a time I couldn’t find the time
To eat of the tree or drink of the oldest wine
And there was a girl that was so much more than me
Tough as nails and sweet as a cherry tree
And lately I’ve been wondering
Where you’re bound to go
Will you let me know
And there was a nest and a song that was meant for me
High at rest in the arms of a hickory
And grace was a stone that I broke myself upon
And I cried to the Lord but the faith that I’d made was gone
There was a blanket laid on the open ground
A kiss on the lips and a dancer spinning round
And love was a tired thing in the end of days
Sharp and a nail and evil in its ways
And lately I’ve been wondering
Where it all went wrong
Will you take me home
There was a reddest rose that I ever saw
And hers was a name I wrote on a bathroom wall
And she had a name I carved in a red oak tree
A tattooed shoulder, longhand poetry
And lately I’ve been thinking
When it all comes undone
Will you take me home
Waitress In Massachusetts
Maybe it’s my pride that makes me need to say this
Or some kind if vanity
Maybe I don’t have the right ot ask for favors
But would you just listen to me
Something makes me want to kiss you when you’re angry
But I never make the move
You’ve done told me that you’re over being salty
So what do I have to lose
Have I told you that I’m sorry for the fire
That I lit in your town
I feel like someone made me walk across a wire
And I’m still falling down
You look pretty as the day before I met you
No– that came out wrong
Said you look pretty as the night that I first found you
With that red dress on
I never said I’m perfect baby
I’m better than I used to be
You never should have kissed me baby
Someone told me there’s a town in Massachusetts
And there’s a gristmill there
And there’s a waitress with a tattoo of a flower
And yellow hair
I might move up there when I’m a little older
Or who knows when
If I go before it starts to get a little colder
I wont be seeing you again
I never said I’m perfect baby
But I’m better than I used to be
You never should have touched me baby
Loves a prison meant for only crimes of passion
Someone puts themselves into
Maybe all this time I haven’t paid attention–
I thought that I was good to you
But I guess it’s time I walked out of this prison
And washed it off my hands
Maybe somewhere off the coastline of New England
Or the timberlands
I never said I’m perfect baby
I’m better than I used to be
I wish you’d never met me baby
White Oak Lavender
I may find her in the strawberry field
worn like lipstick on the face of a hill
and when she floats off like a dandelion will
I may find her in a blackberry field
I may find her in the cigarette trees
breaking toadstools under high-dollar leaves
and I may want her to come sleep beside of me
but I may lose her in the cigarette trees
I may find her in a city full of noise
hearing stories from the white collar boys
and they might talk until she doesn't have a choice
but they're just silence in a city full of noise
and I may find her in the lavender farm
smiling flawless under lavender warm
smelling flowers with a stranger on her arm
there i'll find her in the lavender farm
oh and there she goes
and lingers here
like lavender
in the air
Christmas Eve
Saw a fried of mine– saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time
And it hurt my eyes, like the morning and the sun, but they looked fine
So we stayed a while, shook the dust off of our mouths, stoked the fire
I heard I always was a lamb, I said you always were a lush, and a liar
Someone said that you were coming home for Christmas Eve to take it easy
For a little while, another week or maybe two, and then you’re leaving
And your mother said you were tired of the west– she tried to warn you
That the snow don’t fall and the cities don’t stand still in California
But you’ve made it there for a long time, haven’t you
You’ve made it there from end to end
Yeah you’ve made it for a long time, haven’t you my friend
So you had a try, tried to make it to the sun, took a wrong turn
Yeah well so did I– I tried to light the world on fire– I guess we both learned
That a flame wont fly, and the ground don’t look the same once the world turns
And the world don’t cry– she don’t drink, she don’t smile, and she don’t burn
But you made it for a long time, didn’t you
You finally made it through the winter wind
Yeah you made it for a long time didn’t you my friend
Said I made it through– made it to the other side– took the fast lane
When I got there I looked around and realized it was the same thing
Said I’m doing well, finally got a second chance, started over
Said some days were hell, some were music and a dance, some were sober
But we made it for a long time, didn’t we
Even when we thought we’d reached the end
We made it for a long time didn’t we my friend
It was late at night, and we’d had too many drinks, the roads were colder
And the night was gone, the cops were standing in the streets, the fun was over
So we said goodbye, said we’d do it all again before too long
And the days went by, another summer turned to spring, and we were dead wrong
