Nanci Griffith

Oh, it sat in this corner for many a year Through fireside parties, of tears and cheers The hands of James Hooker flew over its keys And God know who who else 'fore it came to me When I was alone I could be Julie Gold It rang her "From A Distance" just like it...

[Chorus:] I want a simple life Like my mother One true love for my older years I don't want your wars To take my children I want a simple life... while I'm here The sun and moon walk hand in hand together Trading places shining on the truth The moon moves the...

Well, it's that old time story of a new face to glory Someone wanted my soul for their pride What about the system of fools arranged for missing Well, I can't lie, they all pass with time Why do my people come and go? I keep on leaving them behind and Lord, I...

I've heard enough from pundits I've heard our leaders speak I tell you know I'd rather talk to the people in the street 'Cause you don't know someone Until you've looked them in the eye And that gave me a purpose And every reason why I drove myself across Ame...

I've been walkin' in my sleep Countin' troubles 'stead of countin' sheep Where the years went I can't say I just turned around and they've gone away I've been siftin' through the layers Of dusty books and faded papers They tell a story I used to know And it w...

Southern man, you sure are pretty, Got a smile to still the city, And Lord, you know, you got those sleepy eyes. Alabama sweet-talking baby, Calmed the heart of a lonely lady, You kept me flying high, And the leaving easy. And it's Dallas in the rain, And I wa...

I saw you on the avenue You looked so tired and a little blue You were in your Sunday best With your father's tie upon your chest [Chorus:] Hey, you always stood me still Hey, you always will In the corridor of one hotel We once crossed paths I recall it wel...

And I love you so. The people ask me how, How I've lived till now. I tell them I don't know. I guess they understand How lonely life has been. But life began again The day you took my hand. And, yes, I know how lonely life can be. The shadows follow me, and...

The touch of your hand will let me know You take me in and let me go If not for love why would we meet How is it done two into one so easily We're lifted up by angels Higher than the world Strong enough to leave it Bound to learn the secrets Angels never hear...

You can cuss the daylights out of this pale winter moon And we can ponder every reason why your true love was untrue You can cry your eyes out, I've got a shoulder here for you And every day your broken heart's gonna turn a lighter shade of blue [Chorus:] Cau...

Let me say this one more time Just in case you didn't hear it right I'll put it in my own words So I'll know it's understood You sent me out on a limb You brought me home Sent me back again Out on that limb one too many times You should've known I'd learn to f...

Are you tired of me my darling? Did you mean those words you said? That made me yours forever Since the day when we were wed And tell me, would you live life over? Could you make another wife? Are you tired of me my darling? Answer only with your eyes Do you...

Black boy in Chicago, playing in the street Not near enough to wear, not near enough to eat Don't you know he saw it on a July afternoon? He saw a man named 'Armstrong' walk upon the moon Young girl in Calcutta, barely eight years old The flies that swarm the...

They both wrote poetry In fact, that was how they met He was a Yorkshire man in Cambridge She was from Massachusetts They spoke and they fell in love They kissed and picked daffodils She came across the ocean Just to bid her heart goodbye The hawk next to hi...

I look like him without the mustache I’ll have that too if I live that long… When I’m winning he knows me When I lose I’m his bad seed After all he told me Nothing good would become of me Now that I’ve gone crazy With no love from my father Am I the b...

Mamma's in the kitchen rattlin' pans and the baby cries On the TV news, somebody died He was a crazy biker in a motorcycle ridin' daredevil show In Merry England, oh, twenty seven years old He was tryin' to break the record For jumpin' over cars, he was the ch...

I'm goin' back where my garden blooms all year Where the wintertime speaks softly in the fallin' rain I'm goin' back to my green eyed lover there And we will dance along the banks of old Lake Pontchartrain Oh, I've grown pale beneath the streets of Montreal W...

Gonna wake up crazy to the cry of the trains on Beacon Street So far from home, so far from love, so far from a friend in need And all I need is a heart to hold and a good night's sleep And all I have is the cry of the trains as they bid farewell on Beacon Str...

Heres a photograph of you in Woody Hermanns band It was 1952, you were such a handsome man One of you at a memorial with all of Hoagys clan And then you and my mother, walking hand in hand And she was beautiful and you played the piano You were beautiful upon...

I dreamed of Louisiana And a night in Lafayette We had breakfast with Susanna We were young and wild and left Whats different here Than in that dream and in reality Is we werent afraid to fail in love And we all believed in the dream Before, before I dreamed...

In 1914 this ball was at war It went from Belgium on through Ireland The Congo, then back home This big blue ball of war spun on its own Spinning history in lines of blood When many souls fell off (chorus) We all ride on (we all ride) This big blue ball of w...

After you go, I can catch up on my reading And after you go, I'll have a lot more time for sleeping And when you're gone Looks like things are gonna get a lot easier Life will be a breeze, you know I really should be glad But I'm bluer than blue, sadder than...

Oh, I'm sailin' away my own true love, I'm sailin' away in the mornin'. Is there something I can sendfrom across the sea, From the place where I'll be landing? There's nothin' you can send me, my own true love, There's nothin' I'm wishin' to be ownin'. Just c...

Where are you going there? With your suitcase by the back porch stairs With my heart in your hand In this cold December wind again The cafes and bars are closed The Christmas lights are veiled in snow Tell me, where are you going? My brave companion of the roa...

It's a long and dusty road It's a hot and heavy load And the folks I meet ain't always kind Some are bad and some are good Some have done the best they could Some have tried to ease my trouble in mind And I can't help but wonder where I'm bound Where I'm boun...

He is from the work of a Southern writer Where everyman's a fighter Where the strong survive And the weak move north to rest He had lines of silver and hands that delivered Me down the river To drift away alone [Chorus:] I will never understand the heart of a...

In the hills of Montana There's a timber wolf howlin' The rangers are prowlin' For a woman alone She'd run away from an Indian lover He'll never recover She turned him to stone [Chorus:] She drank Canadian whiskey Pure blended whiskey She drank it li...

I am a clock without hands I'm walking through the midnights Counting all the moments Of the loves I've left behind Crying on the shoulders of the days I've not forgotten now I am frozen in time Like the battles of the soldiers Left displaced of time Where t...

My bags are waiting in a cab downstairs I've got a ticket in my pocket says I'll make it out of here And I came by here just to tell you good-by I can see it in your face, you don't want to know why [Chorus:] I made up my mind late last night That I would lea...

Come on up Mississippi Come on up I’m coming on up to you And if only America knew Of your poverty, your dirty streets, your children with their barefoot feet They’d all be coming on up to you Missisippi… Come on up Mississippi America’s for you 

Flipped into the wind Like the ashes of her cigarette He got scattered thrown on the breeze As he tried to forget He lost all his heat And his heart never will be the same He got lighter than air But he'll only come down in the rain Strung out and hung out to...

If I came back to the land of cotton, Would you love just me? Old loves lost are ne'er forgotten: That's the way it's supposed to be. Are you short or are you long? Are you easy to see? Are you weak or are you strong? Makes no never to me. All the ballerin...

My family grew cotton Cotton was all we knew Butter came from butterbeans And it all went in a stew We lived off our victory garden And the neighbours did so too Some years the dust was so ruthless The cotton was all we grew When there's no more cane on the g...

Oh, I used to wish I was a hard line taker, and they'd say, "Six to one a half dozen'll break her", 'till I fell in love with a young man who sang the blues Oh, bless my daddy, he warned me well He'd whisper in my ear and say, "Now look out, gal, There's alway...

Where the Walker runs down into the Carson Valley plain There lived a young maiden Darcy Farrow was her name The daughter of old Dundee and a fair one was she The sweetest flower that bloomed o'er the range She was courted by young Vandermeer And quite handso...

Well, the good times scratched a laugh From the lungs of the young men In a Deadwood saloon, South Dakota afternoon And the old ones by the door With their heads on their chests, They told lies about whiskey on a womans breath Yes, and some tell the story of...

The crops are all in And the peaches are rotting The oranges are stacked In their Creosote dumps They're flying them back To that Mexico border To pay all their wages To wade back again Chorus Goodbye to you Juan, goodbye Rosalita Adios mis amigos, Jesus and...

Well thousands of folks back east they say Are leaving home most everyday They're beating the hot old dusty way To the California line Across the desert sands they roll Getting outta that old dust bowl They think they're going to a sugar bowl But here is wha...

Ronnie stood beneath the movie marquee His memories all curled up inside He was trying to remember was it August or September He'd seen her for the last time He'd heard that she'd become an actress Lord, she always had the prettiest face And he stood with his...

I can't be your weather 'cause' if it rains then it rains I can't be your lover 'cause' the feelings would change I can't be the wind 'cause' the wind blows too free But if you want a true companion Don't forget about me [Chorus:] Don't forget about me When y...

I once was a lot like you We share a dream I couldn't make come true I was a child who wrote my name Across a frosted window pane And there are jobs that I might hold If they'd just let me through the door Without a shower and new clothes That I can ill affor...

[Chorus:] And she has a dress of laces It's worn in many places The shoulder hangs upon her by a thread And she has a need for sharin' For someone warm and carin' And no one sees a heart that's underfed Young girl in love Young girl in tears She hasn't seen t...

Sister had a crystal voice She played a Silverstone from Montgomery Ward Baez songs and Monroe hair She sure could turn the boys heads to stare Swimwear saunter, tan and haunt them Was all she learned in school Books were for the other girls And the other girl...

Drops in the faucet like a nervous heart Beat on my porcelain sink a rhythm avant-garde I page through the phone book, reach for my fountain pen Is he comin' in for the holidays to haunt me again? I call up the Grand central, information please Is that nickel...

This life is filled with wonder This life is full of days not spent Oh I cannot help but ponder What relevance that lends [Chorus:] Oh but everything is comin' up roses And when I'm pushin' up daisies, They'll want roses anyway Oh and everything's comin' up r...

I am fragile in the morning I grow stronger in the day I can sprint like a new spring doe By the fall of the night Love has chased me down Through the cities and the towns Until I stood beside the road And let it pass me by Like a fool I've missed the rain Cau...

Oh, its just another summer mornin', Baby, somewhere in this town The heat is rising Oh, I know where you spent last night so you can stop apologizing You say that you've been out, just lookin' around this town I don't wanna know just exactly what you've found...

He was a flyer for the Air Force On a plane from San Antonio I was traveling to London He was going off to Buffalo Changing planes in Pittsburgh We got grounded in a storm Now, I would give anything To be on that flyer's arm We played cards, mostly blackjack...

She drove west from Salt Lake City to the California coastline. She hit the San Diego Freeway doing sixty miles an hour. She had a husband on her bumper, she had five restless children. And she was singing as sweet as a mockingbird in that Ford Econoline. An...

I look out on these shields of heather Across this countryside I wonder how they've grown together While people live such separate lives I think I'll stay inside for the winter Cause the weather's in my bones And the wind could shatter bone to splinter Then ho...

I am not a child, though you'll treat me as you've always seen me You never saw the changes in a heart grown old and wise Hey, it's good to see you smile, it's been so long between the pages Wheels out on the highway seem to laugh between my lines [Chorus:] D...

From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow-capped mountains white From a distance the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight From a distance there is harmony And it echoes through the land It's the voice of hope, it's the voice...

Four who shared this room and we caught up in the CRAIC Sleeping late on Sundays and we never got to Mass Chorus It's a long way from Clare to here It's a long way from Clare to here It's a long, long way It gets further by the day It's a long, long way from...

Down at the station the tracks are cold The wheels of thunder, they roll no more And the heart of America cries for the souls Who won't be rollin' home The dragon weeps with empty eyes, The whistle sighs no more in the night It rests in the lines, like a gho...

There's a lighthouse in the harbor Giving guidance with it's light But, I had no one to return to As I wandered through the night From the first time that I saw you Standing silent by the shore I knew my search was over And I would look for love no more [Cho...

Oh the city snow makes your brown eyes shine We've gotta look real hard to find a reason to cry New York, New York is a friend of the traveling kind And I'm coming around from years of hard times He's chased me down through the towns and the miles Once stille...

My mother came to America Sailed through the harbor of hopes and of dreams Back in the Thirties With the streets paved in gold And the sky laced with moonbeams Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons Here in the free world, we're the lucky ones [Chorus:] All...

Flippin' bottle caps through the ring around the moon All alone on a Saturday night with the stars in bloom I am a vision of my mother's dream come true Built this house out in the hills All by my own will I've got love enough for two But it's just me and this...

Grapefruit moon, one star shining Shining down on me I heard that tune and now I'm pining Honey, can't you see? Every time I hear that melody Something breaks inside And the grapefruit moon, one star shining Can't turn back the tide Never had a destination C...

We blew past the army motorcade and it's abnormal load haulage The gravity of the situation came on us like a bit of new knowledge The bubbliest bubble bath broke down on the bank The gravity of the situation is why our old thought bubbles sank humble...

Gulf Coast Highway He worked the rails He worked the rice fields With their cool dark wells He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico The only thing we've ever owned Is this old house here by the road And when he dies he says he'll catch Some blackbird's w...

Oh, he was a friend of mine, he was a friend of mine Never had no money to pay for his fine He was a friend of mine He never done no wrong, he never done no wrong Thousand miles from home, he never hurt no one He was a friend of mine And he died on the road,...

Well, it's harvest time out on this Amarillo highway Daydreamin' the South of France I could whistle you out waltzin' there Would you still say you can't? Heart of a miner here takin' her last chance [Chorus:] Heart of a miner, kept her feelings buried deep H...

I am on a Riverboat on the Saigon River Where the music's too loud While I try to have my dinner Stories I've been told of 1954 When the bodies washed ashore from that distant war My friend Michael came in '68 The bodies still floating with the dinner boats s...

I think I'll go to Heaven There I will lay me down Leave all the pain behind me I'll bury it in the ground Maybe they'll talk about me I pray it won't be lies I think I'll go to heaven Heaven is in your eyes I think I'll go to Heaven I heard it's peaceful the...

Hell no, I'm not alright You can talk all day and ask all night Hell no, I'm not alright You can talk all day and ask all night Nothing's gonna change, no end in sight Hell no, I'm not alright Did you really think you could be okay To leave me stranded...

Everybody packs their goals And sails away for better shores I have seen times My sails have held a brilliant shine I hear tell that dreams come true Along these crowded avenues But, my peace of mind Is a place I go when I close my eyes [Chorus:] I need a hom...

Sonny Curtis Breakin' rocks in the hot sun I fought the law and the law won I fought the law and the law won I needed money and I had none I fought the law and the law won I fought the law and the law won [Chorus] Left my baby and I feel so bad I guess my r...

I knew love When it still meant forever When a feeling shared didn't always have to hurt And a promise that was made would go unbroken I knew love When it was more than just a word I knew a time When hope was all you needed And if you cared you found a way to...

I live on a battlefield Surrounded by the ruins of a love we built And then destroyed between us, the smoke has cleared As I stumble through the rubble, I'm dazed and seein' double And I'm truly mystified [Chorus:] My new home is a shell-hole Filled with tea...

I love this town like an unmade bed I love this town of the living dead I love this town gonna paint it red If I can spare a minute I love this town where curtains twitch Where this door scratches next door's itch It's a pantomime at fever pitch And we can al...

Oh, your golden lights of America, Joseph sought your prairies and your buffalo. And the humming of the rails down through Kansas, They brought Joseph in from Baltimore. The Cavalry, the Indians, and an old dan were his only friends. Then the old dan died and...

At my door the leaves are falling The cold wild wind will come Sweethearts walk by together And I still miss someone I go out on a party To look for a little fun But I find a darkened corner Because I still miss someone Oh, I never get over those blue eyes I...

Oh I wish it would rain and wash my face clean I want to find some dark cloud to hide in here Oh love and a memory sparkle like diamonds When the diamonds fall they burn like tears When the diamonds fall they burn like tears Once I had a love from the Georgia...

I Would Bring You Ireland I would bring you Ireland The cool sweet of the Dublin rain If you would keep my heart for me In the quiet of your Texas days And my old friend, will you shelter me from pain In return I'd bring you Ireland One day I'll build a towe...

You never liked this place where we'd been living all along So, you packed up your things and bought a one-way ticket home Leaving never hurt as much as being left behind [Chorus:] I would change my life I would make it right I would change my life If you wou...

This flesh and bone ain't much protection For an honest heart like mine A broken home for good intentions Damaged inventions of my design Chorus: I'll move along (time to move along) I'll move along (time to move along) Bridge: I'm slow to move these feet of...

From Boston to Southshore in the back of the bus, It's the last winter storm of the season and such And I am lost to the fiction of the book in my lap The snow makes me drowsy, while the dreams roll and tumble, It's a long way to Texas, it's a long way back ho...

I almost felt you touching me just now I wish I knew which way to turn and go I feel so good and then, then I feel so bad I wonder what I ought to do If I could only fly, if I could only fly I'd bid this place goodbye to come and be with you But I can h...

If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning I'd hammer in the evening all over this land I'd hammer out danger I'd hammer out a warning I'd hammer out the love between my brothers and my sisters All over this land If I had a bell I'd ring it in the morning I'...

Now they all sat around in a circle They were laughing and all telling lies Then the tall one he bumped in a dollar Oh he said boys I've got nothing to hide Now if the King and the Queen stood together Then the ace he would not be to blame And if the cards we...

If these old walls, if these old walls could speak Of things that they remember well Stories and faces dearly held A couple in love livin' week to week Rooms full of laughter If these walls could speak If these old halls, hallowed halls could talk These woul...

I wish that you loved me The way that I love you I wish I had Angels Who sang in my dreams If wishes were changes We'd all live in roses And there wouldn't be children Who cried in their sleep He wishes I loved him The way that I love you If wishes were chan...

In the wee small hours of the morning While the whole wide world is fast asleep You lie awake and think about the girl And never ever think of counting sheep When your lonely heart has learned its lesson You'd be hers if only she'd call In the wee small hours...

I have traveled far to be sitting here with you And I will leave this place alone That's a sad and simple truth There is so little time and so much to say And I'll be none the wiser When I leave you here today [Chorus:] Is this all there is I wanted so much m...

I am a backseat driver from America They drive to the left on Falls Road The man at the wheel's name is Seamus We pass a child on the corner he knows And Seamus says, "Now, what chance has that Kid got?" And I say from the back, "I don't know." He says, "There...

The telephone is ringin' in the middle of the night And I pull the bed clothes higher Will it stop calling out if I turn on the light? I'm afraid of these shadows here Cause my past is truly frightening And I'm afraid of the warmth in the down Of a feathered h...

You pace the pool and talk about it I read my book and think about it You've walked on water As I'm turning the page You say, What's the intrigue here, In reading when the sky is clear? You are in the sun And I am always in the shade [Chorus:] It's too late t...

He was a simple man only to a stranger. And the kindness in his eyes I still remember. Now that he is old, They say he's angry and he's cold, That his soul is dying. He's a wealthy man's dream, And he's a working man's dime. He has stood in both men's shoes I...

urban light hit's a bartender's smile 'Cause it's closin' time again Last call rang out such a long time ago In the heart of Julie Anne Now she waits inside this midnight glow To steal her dance of grace White satin gloves on her hands these days To cover the...

If I promise not to cry, Will you look me in the eye, And tell me that you've known me. I was your late, your lonely child, I am enhanced by all you've shown me. And in my youth I did defy you to the end, Please forgive my wildness then, Even I can't compreh...

By the Time I Get to Phoenix Was the last song on your mind the day you left You woke up in Nogales With Tequila with her name across your chest You've stumbled through the morning In these border tourists' dusty avenues Singing Everyday's The Hurting Kind An...

I'm working on a morning flight to anywhere but here I'm watching this evening fire burn away my tears All my life I've left my troubles by the door Leavin' is all I've ever known before [Chorus:] It's not the way you hold me when the sun goes down It's not t...

When you are leaving the harbor Do you cry out to the shore? Do you bless the wave of the ocean Do you call your vessel home? As you leave the safest harbor Do you wonder where you'll go? When you feel your bough is breaking Do you call that harbor home? Whe...

There's a star in Heaven's sky Always shining bright It's just a tear in an angel's eye A gentle guiding light [Chorus:] Let it shine on me Let it show the way Let it always be Let it always stay Let it flood my soul Let it hold the key Let it all unfold Let...

I am leaving Mississippi in the evening rain These Delta towns wear satin gowns In a high beamed frame Loretta Lynn guides my hands through the radio Where would I be in times like these Without the songs Loretta wrote? [Chorus:] When you can't find a friend...

When I wake in the night and find That I'm dreaming You're the first thought in mind Love's a fair weather friend when You're lonely You are my summer state of mind Does it sing to you nightly? Does it lay down beside you? Does it make you hear songs On the r...

Your phone call took my by surprise Gee, it's been a long, long time Since those hot and humid Texas nights When we went swimm'n in the tide Corpus Christi seems so far away And I'm not talk'n 'bout the miles And there ain't much I wouldn't give today Just to...

Well, I work this corner from eleven to five The hands get cold around midnight You're askin' me if I've got the time, well I don't know But you're wastin' mine tonight [Chorus:] Whoa, you say you're looking for the time Well, I'm a workin' girl, you just w...

Any given day there's a jet flying somwhere Oh, we bought a ticket and vanished in the sky And how was I to know he was leaving in the morning I never heard him go and then he never said goodbye I've learned to love the night cause the light's gonna get ya Rig...

Rita was sixteen years Hazel eyes and chestnut hair She made the Woolworth counter shine And Eddie was a sweet romancer And a darn good dancer And they waltzed the aisles of the five and dime And they'd sing Dance a little closer to me Hey, dance a little cl...

She's a brown skin girl from El Paso City He's a sweet tempered soldier from Fort Bliss They ran off one July evening All concerned said this one is anyone's guess Love conquers all Love conquers all And to all concerned you'll survive that fall 'Cause love c...

She sleeps alone in the warm nights of Memphis Where the Peabody Hotel meets the velveteen sky She sings like the waves in the cool Mississippi That brought her from St. Paul in '75 And men come to court her with roses and sweet wine Where hands cross the ivor...

Take this heart of mine out the winter And let the new life of Springtime come rest at our door May the soul of my brother never bow to the wicked And the hearts of our children waltz together once more [Chorus:] Love is a Hard Waltz, and we could all use a L...

He owned a hotel on Jersey shore She made her living seeing the sailors door to door He was a small Hawaiian with a crooked smile But he made her eyes light up like the heavens on the Fourth of July She ran the numbers, they say she ran them clean Those porcel...

My friends think I'm crazy and maybe it's true 'Cause I'll go on and love you this way Though I have discovered that you love another And hardly remember my name [Chorus:] My youth was so crazy, my heart was so lazy Love never could stand me still But, love's...

The sun will stop shinin' Hearts will stop poundin' The screen is so lonely tonight The men are out prayin' The women are sayin' She died for the loss of her prime And lived on DiMaggio time [Chorus:] Farewell you old tinsel city With your waltz in the mornin...

My daddy was a longshoreman in New Orleans, My mamma kept score just watchin' the Mardi Gras, Oh me, I sat on the front porch watchin' the rails roll out, I was waitin' for my Omie to take me outta this south It was me and my sisters, like to wore that front p...

I will find somebody new Maybe tomorrow I will stop this missing you Maybe tomorrow Times the healer... times the key So all the wise folks say Oh, maybe tomorrow But not today Life will once again make sense Maybe tomorrow I'll regain my confidence Maybe to...

There's a light out on the freeway says it's time to go I'm wasting my time counting stains on a barroom floor Thinking 'bout my hometown and the friends I'll leave behind Mostly 'bout the man who writes his songs with smiling rhymes And I'm holding on to a sm...

Are you sleeping now? It's midnight in Missoula. Where the Black Hills know your name. Is the snow piled high around your window frame? Is there enough frost left to write our names upon the pane? Are you sleeping now? It's midnight in Missoula. Are you slee...

In the rush of the river and the roar of the crowd You can't hear the silence calling When it's merely the whisper of a cloud In a crazy storm, that pulls you on Take a pill or you might take a loss And the vicious circle tightens But compromise comes with a...

In an old pickup truck, with his hat pulled down He drives them old Montana backroads Remembering half-forgotten times, and wondering where it's gone And if he can still carry the load Now, the summer sun is setting, and the moon is on the rise As he pulls th...

Oh, I wish that you would call We have not spoken since last fall That smoky conversation's coming home Do I just read between your lines Yeah it could be this winter wine So sweet upon my tongue tonight It recalls your tender eyes And I need more than a whis...

As the morning light stretched in across my bed, I thought of you Remembering your laughing eyes and all we said, I love you too As all my thoughts of you pass 'fore my face a thousand times The way they race my heart I cannot say it all in lines How the shor...

There's a morning train That's headed for New Orleans Carrying business men and week day shoppers I have sixteen bucks and a dollar in change And that's not a bad price for a one way ride On a morning train I give you my devotion You left me heartsick Oh, yo...

Easy come, easy go Anything but easy' though You were here, now you're gone That's the only thing I know And it's just one more sorrow To throw upon the heap Mountain of sorrow' steep What you see, the new me Changing right before your eyes Like a leaf on a...

You'll never be the sun turning in the sky And you won't be the moon above us On a moonlit night And you won't be the stars in heaven Although they burn so bright But even on the deepest ocean You will be the light You may not always shine as you go Barefoot...

You say you're heading out to California You've heard the grapes are falling From the vine I was hoping you might have the Urge to write me But, I don't believe you will So never mind I was talking to a man down at Genesco He said they might be hiring any tim...

A little girl dreamer Ribbons and long curls Reflections of yesterdays past Headlines and footlights Wee hours and long nights Keep everything moving so fast It's taken a long time And she's walked a fine line For fortune and fame have arrived She kept on str...

While I was out a-ridin' The graveyard shift midnight till dawn The moon was as bright as a reading light For a letter from an old friend back home [Chorus] He asked me Why do you ride for your money? Why do you rope for short pay? You ain't gettin' n...

Something's disturbed me I'm out of your company I'm Out of the country With another man's heart I'm angered and doubtful And I'd shout an earful But nothing comes out When I open my mouth [Chorus:] I'm nobody's angel now (she's out of the country now) Nobody...

What the hell was I doing there In that fast-food parking lot They say I robbed the restaurant and a Memphis cop got shot I was trying to feed my habit I was scared and I was high It was never my intention That anyone should die Just how many of us are innoce...

I know you believe in miracles That this love will come back around I know you believe the grass is growing Across this winter To the south of this town I know your kiss is sweeter Than the dust that this love has become Yet, I know your path is clearer Shed...

I'm gonna open up the window and let in October And roll up my sleeves in the rain Roll out on the freeway with a heart a little harder Breezes gettin' cooler by the day 5 a.m. travelers, bleary eyed and lonely We're all countin' miles and tradin' lanes But i...

Where are all the Satchel Boys Selling books outside the Metripole? Books to read in English, books of light and sorrows Of this foreign land and they are gone and they've flown away Where are all the cyclos With their drivers pedaling grace? Crowded out by m...

On Grafton Street at Christmas time The elbows push you 'round This is not my place of memories I'm a stranger in this town The faces seem familiar And I know those songs they're playin' But I close my eyes and find myself Five thousand miles away [Chorus:] I...

I found your letter in my mailbox today You were just checkin' if I was okay And if I still miss you Well you know what they say [Chorus:] Just once in a very blue moon Just once in a very blue moon Just once in a very blue moon And I feel one comin' on soon...

You honk the horn on your Mercedes Benz I've rolled up my window so you're honkin' again Your stereo could drive the devil out Hey, you drink too much and you talk too loud But you think you got it made Think you got it made Think you got it made When you're o...

We walk along the Hudson when it snows here in Manhattan Seems we've lived our lives so out of place You touch my cheek and I do wonder how this happened That two young lovers could pack their dreams and move from the Texas Plains [Chorus:] Oh, I'm gonna take...

I don't wanna be standing here With this ticket for this outbound plane Oh, I've been here before Somehow this doesn't feel the same Talk is cheap So we could talk all night long And we may never figure out just Where your love went wrong [Chorus:] 'Cause I d...

She was a party girl Now the party's over she was a beauty And that's changing too Now she's barefoot and having babies She was a party girl Now the party's over Now her husband watches TV After working hard all day And she's crying into her pillow 'cause it'...

The evening fell just like a star Left a trail behind You spit as you slammed Out the door If this is love we're crazy As we fight like cats and dogs I just know There's got to be more So please call me, baby Wherever you are It's too cold to be Out walking...

Goodbye gray sky I see my heart comin' round the bend The sun's comin' up on the Poet In My Window Her saving grace is my old friend I'll never lose if my heart goes flyin' If I sail it true and set it free It'll come flyin' home Be waitin' in my window Calli...

Pour me a drink Light me a cigarette Help me forget The things that I've done Pour me a drink Then pour me another one To keep out this cold wind That blows through my soul Look at my life Here in these photographs Look at these faces What a story they tell T...

We all said you'd never make it Cause you had that fragile heart And you were odd within the ways of the social You through a caution to us all And now when the late night drinkers gather for their falls Someone says they've seen you out there laughing at us a...

[Chorus:] Ride the blue wind high and free She'll lead you down through misery Leave you low, come time to go Alone and low as low can be If I had a nickel I'd find a game If I won a dollar I'd make it rain If it rained an ocean I'd drink it dry And lay me do...

I'll never fall in love again It's such a contradiction To lose all control and common sense And even intuition You came along, with a strange new song And the sweetest innovation And you said, "One should never fall in love But rise to the occasion" To have l...

He still sends her roses on the 4th of July. They're always white roses, she's never asked why. She still doesn't know where he goes, Thursday nights. But his wedding band rests, On their bedside that night. He was a soldier in the Vietnam war. He lost half...

Oh, the night was clear and the stars were shinin' and the moon came up,... so quiet in the sky And all the people gathered round while the band was a-tunin' I can hear them now ... playin' 'Comin' Through the Rye' She was dressed in blue and she looked so lov...

He will leave behind all of his clothes He wore when he was with her All he need's are his railroad boots And his leather jacket As he say goodbye to Ruby's arms Although his heart is breaking He will steal away out through her blinds For soon she will be waki...

Saint Teresa, your patron childs come home. Were you there to greet her? Did your angels know her songs? And all of her sorrows: Did you lift them from her brow? And did you kiss her hand that took her soul back up to you? Our patron saint of harmony and vow....

Never saw the morning till I stayed up all night Never saw the sunshine till I turned out the light Never saw my home town till I stayed away too long I never heard the melody till I needed the song Never saw the white line till I was leavin' you behind Never...

When you say I love you Is it just because you know that's what I want to hear? Lately friends are warning me What they hesitate to tell me leaves a thread of fear People talk around this town And when the final truth comes down There's only one thing left to...

Snowing, through South Dakota I once drove, With the wife of my best pal, Who cloaks her heart from cold with gold. It was well into the winter, Of December in the cold. Off to see Mount Rushmore, Staring through the snow. And to gamble with the boys of Deadwo...

I heard the music long ago Songs that rent the air Fading in and out at night While I was lying there Voices soft and lonely and later Rock and Roll Flying across the Rio Grande Straight into my soul Trying to find a reason Trying to find that rhyme Rolling w...

Summer Sunday evening, around the old home place Well, I would play my guitar and sister sang along Sister's smile would always light up my Daddy's face And when they'd get to dancing, well they'd dance all night till dawn [Chorus:] And I would sing one for s...

My daddy sent me on to Baton Rouge in 1969 He said our love was like a forest fire and he'd end it with a mind So you rode with us to Temple, Texas where I did catch the train And I remember waving back at you from a silted window pane [Chorus:] And I said fa...

I'm sitting on a southbound train Staring at the sky I'm thinking of my childhood And I'm trying not to cry While a stranger sleeps against me And it feels like I'm his wife Towns and cities flutter past Like the pages of my life My heart is on the baggage rac...

You come home late And you come home early You come on big When you're feelin' small You come home straight And you come home curly Sometimes you don't come home at all [Chorus:] So what in the world's come over you? What in heavens name have you done? You've...

I could use a little spin on a red brick floor In that crazy ol' bar when Tim locks the door Where the walls are gonna ring and the strings are gonna bend And it's a buss on the cheek from all my old lovers again Oh. the Blue Ridge mountains at the fall of th...

Drinking black market vodka in the back of the Scottsman's saloon Then it's red meat and whiskey like a coyote drunk on the moon Outside in Oslo the buskers' all sing the same tune And it's Waltzin' Matilda while the bagpipes play old Clare de Lune She was a...

You walked the line All your life You never thought you'd have to change it You're always there to give advice You never thought you'd have to take it It's still life, but it's broken It's still life, when it's torn It's still life that you're walking On and...

Never hit seventeen When you play against the dealer You know that the odds Won't ride with you And never leave your woman alone With your friends around to steal her She'll be gambled and gone Like summer wages And we'll keep rollin' on 'Til we get to Vancou...

I'm sleepin' less in L.A. Dreamin' of days yet to come Oh, and I don't care what you say I know that those days will surely come I'm wakin' and I'm callin' I'm shakin' and I'm fallin' Oh, little darlin' I wonder when those sweet dreams Will come There's a ho...

Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing 'Cause sometimes all my days are filled with rain As I travel down life's higway, things ain't going my way 'Cause there's always someone swervin' in my lane You keep a swervin' in my lane and it's causing' lots of danger...

I should have known that you were gone back in Germany You told me in the dark while I was sleeping Then you slept through the sunrise As it washed across your face And all that I had heard were our hearts beating [Chorus:] Talk to me while I'm listening Whil...

The name she gave was Caroline Daughter of a miner And her ways were free and it seemed to me The sunshine walked beside her She came to Spencer, across the hill She said her pa had sent her 'Cause the coal was low and soon the snow Would turn the skies to wi...

[Chorus:] Tell me how to keep your love You know how I need your love Tell me how you keep the love Within your heart from me Don't you know that I love you Let me show why; I'm true blue When I know a love is true Don't keep your love for me If you would sa...

He was standing by the highway With a sign that just said Mother When he heard a driver coming About a half a mile away So he held the sign up higher Where no decent soul could miss it It was ten degrees or colder Down by Boulder Dam that day He was raised up...

Tequila after midnight Drives loneliness away Makes strangers all around you look familiar And tequila after midnight Makes you feel so warm Makes you think you feel good when you don't It's the same sad familiar story Nothing about it's new Just about someon...

Every prayer that I'm not praying, and every promise I'm betraying Every price that I am paying, is like a ghost inside of me Every road I could be taking, every dream I am forsaking Every heart that's out there breaking, is like a ghost inside of me Look aro...

Oh, he said it was the sound of the winter callin' From up around the bend Or it could be the cry of your restless heart For the love of your long lost friends Me, I think it's just the summertime and the heat of these Texas winds They keep on slappin' my face...

They were the loving kind She was black and he was white In Virginia nineteen fifty-eight They found love amongst the hate Well the law said they could not wed They married anyway The sheriff put them both in jail Separated 'till they made their bail They ch...

Nobody seems to care about you With your tool case by the roadside There beneath the power lines Or the pallor of your skin Paled beneath fluorescent lights In a Greyhound station's cruel midnight Where you can't afford the ride [Chorus:] Oh, the power lines...

I sold the farm to take my woman Where she longed to be We left our kin and all our friends Back there in Tennessee I bought the one way tickets She had often begged me for And they took us to The streets of Baltimore Well, my heart was filled with laughter...

The wing and the wheel, they carry things away Whether it's me that does the leavin or the love that flies away The moon outside my window looks so lonely tonight Oh, there's a chunk out of it's middle, big enough for an old fool to hide Where are all the drea...

There's a light beyond these woods, Mary Margaret. Do you think that we will go there, And see what makes it shine, Mary Margaret? It's almost morning, and we've talked all night, You know we've made big plans for ten-year-olds, You and I. Have you met my new...

Shut it down and call this road a day And put this silence in my heart in a better place I have traveled with your ghost now so many years That I see you in the shadows In hotel rooms and headlights You're coming up beside me Whether it's day or night [Chorus...

This house is full of memories that aren't mine Pieces, I thought I would clear out over time Life takes over, I get ahead of myself I turn around and I've filled up the shelf With things I don't need that weigh me down Things I don't want but still keep arou...

This heart was almost taken This heart had a love of its own This heart was reawakened When you came along This heart was born feet runnin' This heart saw your porch light on This heart hit the sidewalk wonderin' Why you left it on [Chorus:] This heart was st...

This old town should've burned down in 1929 That's when we stood in line Waiting for our soup Swallowing our pride This old town should've burned down in 1931 When the rain refused to come Air filled up our bellies, dust filled up our lungs And we thought our...

We returned to that five room flat Now it was empty and this the last time There were blinking pictures Of how we'd sit and chat Some of them are scattered Others shattered in my mind It was always three flights up Cathedral bells kept time In the winter, a...

Oh the grace that true love holds when hearts grow weary for Time alone You give it room and the warm to hold And it'll always come home True love is faithful all on it's own Hearts know when they should fly alone When the mind is rested and the heart's at ea...

We're living in a time of inconvenience Compassion fails me with this meanness in the air Our city streets are filled with violence So we close our doors to the city And pretend that it's not there Here I go again Back out on these mean streets The evil seems...

Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown Tonight I think I'm gonna look around For something that I couldn't see When this world was more real to me Tonight I think I'm gonna go downtown My love, my love has gone away My love, my love what can I say My love woul...

So close yet so far away Of all the things I'd hoped to say Will have to go unsaid today Perhaps until tomorrow Your fears have built a wall between Our lives and all that lovin' means Will have to go unfelt it seems Leavin' only sorrow You built you...

Nothing that I've ever seen, Now means much of anything, In traveling through this part of you. And the Vietnam that I had dreamed, The place you wore your life 'fatigued', I'm traveling through this part of you Where are you amongst the madness, On the stre...

Baby I know that we've got trouble in the fields When the bankers swarm like locust out there turning away our yield The trains roll by our silos, silver in the rain They leave our pockets full of nothing But our dreams and the golden grain Have you seen the...

I worked hard for that rose You may have it when you go 'Cause it's the dreaming it lends Worth holding here And when the outbound lane brings me trouble again If my heart's in the wind I wanna hold it near [Chorus:] Don't say no, it's not part of this show W...

Oh, love is a hand you hold When you think you've lost your mind It is bitter as persimmons Yet sweet of rose on vine It's the thorns upon the vines That sometimes tear two hearts entwined It's a gentle breath upon your cheek That is so truly something fine...

Before you marry, before you mend Or have someone's children, long before then You could find something with somebody new Try the love that I'm offering in my open arms Before you do We should have quarreled, it's so unwise To cut yourself loose with on...

Where are you going my little one, little one Where are you going my baby my own Turn around and you're two Turn around and you're four Turn around and you're a young girl Going out of the door Turn around Turn around Turn around and you're a young girl Going...

Out of the blue horizon Stretched a band of gold From the straits of Juan De Fuca To the east of Portland, Maine You held my hand As we raced along the buffalo bayou Chasing the tail of this globe You say one day, babe we're bound to go 'Cause it takes two for...

You ran up against the rain Everyday of your short life Suffered for your muse without complaining Never heard you swear life isn't fair But it doesn't make it right You left the world knowing all too well what pain is. You took it on yourself to pave the roa...

Life is full of finer things they're lost and found in the dark It's the dog by the highway Who said, Goin' my way? Now, he lives in your own Backyard Waiting for love You came along and fit the part It's the whistle from the man With the kindest hands And...

I want you to tell me why you walked out on me I'm so lonesome every day I want you to know that since you walked out on me Nothing seems to be the same old way Think about the love that burns within my heart for you The good times we had before you went away,...

Let me ride on the wall of death one more time Let me ride on the wall of death one more time You can waste your time on the other rides But this is the nearest to being alive Oh let me take my chances on the wall of death You can go with the crazy peopl...

She's just a hill country girl home from the city Her pocket's full of plenty of those neon lights And her mother's smile shines on her youngest child Though she is just a barroom singer With her father's eyes [Chorus:] The city streets are harder understandi...

Wasn't that a mighty storm? Yeah Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning? Wasn't that a mighty storm? Blew all the people away Galveston had a sea wall Meant to keep the water down High tide from the ocean Sent water all over town Wasn't that a mighty stor...

Wash away the tears All the angry times we shared All the feelings and the Sorrows come and gone We have let them slip away Because I'm standing here today And I'm smiling at your old West Texas sun I remember times When you'd weathered out my mind But you al...

What is that sound ringing in my ears I've heard that sound before What's that I hear ringing in my ears I hear it more and more It's the sound of freedom calling Ringing up to the sky It's the sound of the old ways falling You can hear it if you try You can...

He took a plane to New York City To chase his fortune on the Wall Street plan Now he is stranded in Manhattan Yet the Southeast Texas coast still calls his name [Chorus:] He said come on wheels, give up a ticket Hello thunder, won't you roll him home Oh a nee...

I could have a mansion that is higher than the trees I could have all the gifts I want and never ask please I could fly to Paris, oh, it's at my beck and call Why do I go through life with nothing at all But when I dream, I dream of you Maybe someday you will...

Tell me where, Would I be now without you? Without an angel, Watching out for me? Took a long, long time, For me to realise, All my faith in you, Was so justified. Tell me where, Would I be now without you? Where would I turn, To find the truth I need? I cou...

I'm headed out on that highway Listenin' to them big trucks whine I'm headed out on that highway Listenin' to them big trucks whine White Freight Liner Won't you steal away my mind New Mexico ain't bad Lord People there they treat you fine New Mexico ain't ba...

Across the evening sky All the birds are leaving But how can they know It's time for them to go Before the winter fire I will still be dreaming I have no thought of time For who knows where the time goes Who knows where the time goes Sad deserted sho...

[Chorus:] On the wings of a snow white dove He sends his pure sweet love A sign from above On the wings of a dove When trouble surrounds us When evils come The body grows weak The spirit grows numb When these things beset us He doesn't forget us He sends down...

Well, I've listened to the words you lovers speak The sound of the lover's song And I've dreamed all the dreams that a wayward girl dreams In a thousand places gone Dallas was my late night out Radcliffe's served to roust me out And Houston lay like Cleavland...

It's a southern road west of New Orleans I'm fightin' off a cold From these winter rounds Houston She's just around the corner But I think I'll stop off here in Lafayette Lord and have me another round [Chorus:] I've been workin' in corners all alone at night...

If you could stand behind my eyes for just one day Could you see my heart beside you? If you knew my love had never flown away Would I be missing you Wouldn't that be roses Wouldn't that be fine? If I could wash away all these years with language Could this...

I packed up my suitcase Pulled down my old bedroll And I started to wander Far from my home And the time it passed quickly And the days seemed to be hours Far from your city And Yarrington Town Well, I wandered through the midnights Of sea-bordered bar lights...

I truly need, a year down in New Orleans, The hum of a southern drawl that I could understand And should you meet, my sweetheart in New Orleans Kindly pass my heart into the safety of his hands I remember clover, in the fields south of New Orleans And we ran...

So much silence to my hometown streets, gonna put my cheek to the window and watch it sleep Where the shadows fall from sycamore trees, fight off this north wind and I'll be headin' back east Let the Colorado River roll on to the sea. I will be crossing...

What've you got to say for yourself now, baby, now that I am leaving you, What have you got to lose? The truth you tried to keep from me, Well, it nearly drove me crazy, And I have grown weary from sleepless nights of you. Is that a broken heart in the cor...

When I got up this morning You were on my mind You were on my mind I got some aches, and whoa-oh I got some pains, and whoa-oh I got some wounds to bind So I went to the corner Just to ease my pain Just to ease my pain I got drunk, and whoa-oh I got sick, and...