Beautiful Ride

by 'Dewey Cox'

Now that I have lived a lifetime's worth of days
Finally I see the folly of my ways
So listen when I sing of the temptations of this world
Fancy cars and needles, whisky, flesh, and pearls

And then in the end it's family and friends
Loving yourself, but not only yourself
It's about the good walk and the hard walk
And the young girls you made cry
It's about making a little music till the day that you die
It's a beautiful ride

As I stand on the precipice of death, my perspective is enormous
Every leaf, every cloud, I see the hands which have formed us
Some days all you got is a nighttime graveyard walk
You whistle some sweet melody to the ghost down at the dock

So into your hand lead the marching band
Don't you let them fade your colors grey
'Cause when all is said and done
When youth is spent and burned
You'll see that it's all about
Music, flowers, babies
Sharing the goodtimes
Traveling not just for business
Accepting your mortality
This is finally what I've learned

And then in the end it's family and friends
Loving yourself, but not only yourself
It's about the good walk and the hard walk
And the young girls you've made cry
It's about making a little music every day till you die
It's a beautiful ride

New Routine

by Adam Schlesinger

Two men sit in the corner of a diner
Both of them look quite a bit like Carl Reiner
One of them is smoking even though the sign says not to
The waitress says to stop, he says, 'sorry but I've got to'
Tell each other jokes that they both know that they both know
They talk about real estate, prostates, Costco

And when they finish up they leave a twenty on the table
The waitress picks it up with the half-eaten bagels
And when her shift is over she goes back to Mineola
Sits on the couch, opens up a diet cola and says

'I'm so, I'm so sick of this place
'I'm so ready for a change of pace
'I'm just looking for a new routine'
So she spins her globe
And the next thing you know
She's living in Liechtenstein

She doesn't speak German, only high school Spanish
But within a few weeks she discovers she can manage
But there's not much going on except for banking and skiing
So she breaks up with the man that she just started seeing
He drops her at the airport in a diesel Mercedes
Thinks to himself, 'I'm so feeble with the ladies, and I

'I'm so, I'm so sick of this place
'I'm so ready for a change of pace
'I'm just looking for a new routine'
So he grabs his cap
Throws a dart at a map
And now he's living in Bowling Green

He talks his way into a job at La Quinta
Falls for the manager who's moving back to Canada
She's tried Roanoke, Reykjavik, Rome
Says 'you're really sweet but I just want to go home'

Two men sit in the corner of a diner
One of them says 'I might take a trip to China'
It's one of those things we should do before we're too old
Thanks but no thanks, bring me back an egg roll
Bring it back

Carl Perkins' Cadillac

by Mike Cooley

Life ain't nothing but a blending up
Of all the ups and downs
Dammit Elvis, don't you know
You made your Mama so proud
Before you ever made that record
Before there ever was a Sun
Before you ever lost that Cadillac
That Carl Perkins won

Mr. Phillips found old Johnny Cash
And he was high
High before he ever took those pills
And he's still too proud to die
Mr. Phillips never said anything
Behind nobody's back
Like 'Dammit Elvis, don't he know
'He ain't no Johnny Cash'

If Mr. Phillips was the only man
That Jerry Lee still would call Sir
Then I guess Mr. Phillips did all of y'all
About as good as you deserve
He did just what he said he's gonna do
And the money came in sacks
New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac

I got friends in Nashville
Or at least they're folks I know
Nashville is where you go
To see if what is said is so
Carl drove his brand new Cadillac to Nashville
And he went downtown
This time they promised him a Grammy
He turned his Cadillac around

Mr. Phillips never blew enough hot air
To need a little gold plated paperweight
He promised him a Cadillac
And put the wind in Carl's face
He did just what he said he's gonna do
And the money came in sacks
New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac

Dammit Elvis, I swear, son
I think it's time you came around
Making money you can't spend
Ain't what being dead's about
You gave me all but one good reason
Not to do all the things you did
Now Cadillacs are fiberglass
If you were me you'd call it quits

If Mr. Phillips was the only man
That Jerry Lee still would call Sir
Then I guess Mr. Phillips did all of y'all
About as good as you deserve
He did just what he said he's gonna do
And the money came in sacks
New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac

The Mountains Win Again

by Bobby Sheehan
Note: I recommend reading through Looks Like Rain below in order to understand the allusions herein.

I pick up my smile
Put it in my pocket
Hold it for a while
Try not to have to drop it
Men are not to cry
So how am I to stop it?
Keep it all inside
Don't show how much she rocked ya

Can you feel the same?
You gotta love the pain
It looks like rain again
I feel it coming in
The mountains win again

Dreams we dreamed at night
Were never meant to come to life
I can't understand
The ease she pulled away her hand
This time in my life
I was hurt enough to care
I guess from now on
I'll be careful what I share

Can you feel the same?
You gotta love the pain
It looks like rain again
I feel it coming in
The mountains win again

A pocket is no place
For a smile anyway
Someday I will find
Love again will blow my mind
Maybe it will be
That love that got away from me
Is there a line to write
That could make you cry tonight?

Looks Like Rain

by John Perry Barlow

I woke today and felt your side of bed
The covers were still warm where you'd been laying
You were gone, my heart was filled with dread
You might not be sleeping here again

It's all right, I love you
That's not gonna change
Run me 'round, make me hurt again and again
But I'll still sing you love songs
Written in the letters of your name
And brave the storm to come
For it surely looks like rain

Did you ever waken to the sound of street cats making love
And guess from their cries you were listening to a fight
Well you know, hate's just the last thing they're thinking of
They're only trying to make it through the night

I only want to hold you, I don't want to tie you down
Or fence you in the lines I might have drawn
It's just that I have gotten used to having you around
My landscape would be empty if you were gone

It's all right, I love you
And that's not gonna change
Run me 'round, make me hurt again and again
But I'll still sing you love songs
Written in the letters of your name
And brave the storm to come
For it surely looks like rain

Green and Grey

by Chris Thile

I'm in a room full of people, hanging on one person's breath
We would all vote him most likely to be loved to death
I hope he still wants it, but it might remind him of when
He aimed for the bullseye and hit it nine times out of ten

That one time his hand slipped, and I saw the dart sail away
I don't know where it landed, but I'm guessing between green and gray
I thought nothing of it, but it still haunts him like a ghost
With all eyes upon him, except two that matter the most

He says, 'Green is the color that everyone sees all around me
'Gray is the color I see around her, and she's just a blur'
'The more the crowd cheers, the less I can hear
'And they don't really care what I play
'It might be for her, but for now it's between green and gray'

We paid and we cheered, now we're gone, and to us that feels right
But for him every one of those evenings turns into a night
With another hotel room where he lays awake to pretend
That he's doing fine with his notebook and Discman for friends

He says, 'Green is the color that everyone sees all around me
'Gray is the color I see around her, and she's just a blur
'Night after night, what I hear, what I write
'Fills the room, and my head starts to sway
'It might be for her, but for now it's between green and gray'

'I want you to love me,' he whispers, unable to speak
And he wonders aloud why feelings so strong make the body so weak
Then he awoke, now he's scared to death somebody heard
If it was you, and you know her, please don't say a word

Here's to the Meantime

by Grace Potter

You're running me ragged
I don't do the things I should
If the devil made a fire
You'd be the wood

I've just got one question
Answer me if you could
How can so much trouble
Look so goddamn good?

Look at the way that you've been living
Look at the love you should be giving
Look at what tomorrow left behind
Look at at the life that you've been missing
Look at the girl you could be kissing
Look what happened in the meantime

You gotta get yourself back home
Before I find you and kindly remind you

So come sit down beside me
With a dollar and a dime
And we'll drink away our fortunes
Here's to the meantime

Wine and Blood

by Warren Haynes

Desirée's in disarray
Waiting for her angels to come
Where she used to feel the weight of a thousand lifetimes
Now she just feels numb
But there was a time when her beauty
Raised the eyebrows of the town
Any man would gladly give up all he had
Just to take Desirée down

She stares out the window
At the world passing by
She is caught beneath the wheel
Too heavy to lift, she feels too weak to try
People stare like strangers
Where once she might've asked them in
To fill the void where her heart once was
Now she just fills her glass again
And again

She walks the floor less traveled
Thinks of a sad melody
Wine and blood don't mix like they used to
Now they just make a memory
Too many years trying to do the right thing for the wrong man
Now the picture is clear
She drinks, and she cries, and she hides from the past
'Cause the truth is more bitter than the tears

All these half-truths and alibis
Help build a wall of denial
She takes comfort in the night, darkness blocks the light
From falling on her aging smile
Grey befalls her halo
Where there once was a golden mane
And her eyes don't shine like they used to
Without the moon, the sun would be in vain

She puts on her make-up
Though no one's seen her for days
Her silence is a lonely cry
She's trapped inside a maze
Her tears have turned to honey
Drawing the black flies of depression
Desirée's in disarray
Waiting for her angels again

Best Imitation of Myself

by Ben Folds

I feel like a quote out of context
Withholding the rest
So I can be for you what you want to see
I got the gesture and sounds
Got the timing down
It's uncanny, you'd think it was me

Do you think I should take a class
To lose my Southern accent
Did I make me up?
Or make the face till it stuck?
I do the best imitation of myself

The 'problem with you' speech
You gave me was fine
I liked the theories about my little stage
And I swore I was listening
But I started drifting
Around the part about me acting my age

Now if it's all the same
I've people to entertain
I juggle one-handed
Do some magic tricks and
The best imitation of myself

Maybe I'm thinking myself in a hole
Wondering who I am, when I ought to know
Straighten up now, time to go
Fool somebody else
Fool somebody else

Last night I was east with them
And west within
Trying to be for you what you want to see
But I can't help it with you
The good and bad comes through
Don't want you hanging out with no one but me

Now if it's all the same
It comes from the same place
And if my mind's somewhere else
You won't be able to tell
I do the best imitation of myself

Yes, it's uncanny to see
You'd really think it was me
The best imitation of myself

Ragged Company

by Grace Potter

O Lord, I think I'm falling to my disbelief
I'm cursing like a sailor and lying like a thief
It's hard to heed the calling from the better side of me
When I'm blaming everybody else, and no one's coming clean

O Lord, can you see my thick skin wearing thin?
And the demons of a lesser me are beckoning me in
Those who gathered 'round me, I'm watching them all leave
'Cause I am my own ragged company

You can take a trip to China or take a boat to Spain
Take a blue canoe around the world and never come back again
But traveling don't change a thing; it only makes it worse
Unless the trip you take is in to change your cruel course
Every town's got a mirror, and every mirror still shows me
That I am my own ragged company

O Lord, it's lonely, O Lord, it's mighty cold
And I don't want to live this way, afraid of growing old
It's hard to heed the warning when you cannot see the crime
The only way to remember is to forget in a rhyme
And I'm scared to tread the red road that leads to Galilee
'Cause I am my own ragged company

Teenage Wasteland

by Pete Townshend

Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right
And I don't need to be forgiven

My kids ain't gonna break my heart
My greed ain't gonna spoil their part
This land just has to be a new one
I'm gonna tan underneath a new sun

Don't cry, don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland

Don't have the latest suit, the long grass is my fruit
I am really ordinary man
The family is free to do just as they please
And we all sleep together in the caravan

Hey you, don't walk on the turnips
My lord, when will they ever learn it
Look there, nations of travelling children
Nowhere to go to escape the chill wind

Don't cry, don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland

My kids ain't gonna break my heart
And my greed ain't gonna spoil their part
This land just has to be a new one
I'm gonna tan underneath a new sun

Sally, take my hand
Travel south cross-land
Put out the fire and don't look past my shoulder

The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let's get home before we get older

Teenage wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland
They're all wasted

N.B. This is an earlier version of - and different song from - The Who's more well-known Baba O'Riley.

The Waste Land (Pt. I)

by T.S. Eliot

Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Σίβυλλα τί θέλεις; respondebat illa: ἀποθενεîν θέλω

I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
   Frisch weht der Wind
   Der Heimat zu
   Mein Irisch Kind
   Wo weilest du?
'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'
―Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed' und leer das Meer.

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, The Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: 'Stetson!
'You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
'That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
'Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
'Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
'O keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
'Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
'You! Hypocrite lecteur! - mon semblable, - mon frère!'

[Part II here]

Just Showed Up for My Life

by Sara Groves

Spending my time sleep-walking
Moving my mouth, but not saying a thing
Hoping the changes would take
By working their way from the outside in
I was in love with an idea
Preoccupied with how a life should appear
Spending my time at the surface
Repairing the holes in the shiny veneer

There are so many ways to hide
There are so many ways not to feel
There are so many ways to deny what is real
And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright

I'm going to live my life inspired
Look for the holy in the common place
Open the windows and feel
All that's honest and real until I'm truly amazed
I'm going to feel all my emotions
I'm going to look you in the eyes
I'm going to listen and hear
Until it's finally clear and it changes our lives

There are so many ways to hide
There are so many ways not to feel
There are so many ways to deny what is real
And I just showed up for my own life
And I'm standing here taking it in, and it sure looks bright

The glory of God is man fully alive
The glory of God is man fully alive

Painting Pictures of Egypt

by Sara Groves

I don't want to leave here
I don't want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I've been
They are calling out to me like a long lost friend

It's not about losing faith
It's not about trust
It's all about comfortable when you move so much
The place I was wasn't perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn't milk or honey, but then neither is this

I've been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacks
The future seems so hard, and I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the promise and the things I know

If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

by Bob Dylan

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
And your silver cross and your voice like chimes
Who do they think could bury you?
With your pockets well protected at last
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass
And your flesh like silk and your face like glass
Who could they get to carry you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I put them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace
And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace
And your basement clothes and your hollow face
Who among them can think he could outguess you?
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims
Into your eyes where the moonlight swims
And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns
Who among them would try to impress you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list
Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss
And you wouldn't know it would happen like this
But who among them really wants just to kiss you?
With your childhood flames on your midnight rug
And your Spanish manners and your mother's drugs
And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs
Who among them do you think could resist you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The farmers and the businessmen, they all did decide
To show you where the dead angels are that they used to hide
But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?
How could they ever mistake you?
They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm
But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm
And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms
How could they ever, ever persuade you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row
And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go
And your gentleness now, which you just can't help but show
Who among them do you think would employ you?
Now you stand with your thief, you're on his parole
With your holy medallion which your fingertips fold
And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul
Who among them do you think could destroy you?

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes
My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums
Should I leave them by your gate
Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Visions of Johanna

by Bob Dylan

Ain't it just like the night
To play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded
Though we're all doing our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain
Tempting you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play
Blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls
They whisper of escapades out on the 'D' train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost
He takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery
He likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall
To be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall
While I'm in the hall
How can I explain? It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums
Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo, 'This is what
'Salvation must be like after a while'
But Mona Lisa must've had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, 'Jeeze
'I can't find my knees'
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks
To the countess who's pretending to care for him
Saying, 'Name me someone that's not a parasite
'And I'll go out and say a prayer for him'
But like Louise always says, 'Ya can't look at much, can ya man?'
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes everything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

I'll Be the One

by Warren Haynes

When you're walking down the street
I'll be the one that stares like a statue
You turn the corner
I'll be the one that follows you downtown
When you finally notice me
I'll be the one fumbling with his feelings
Totally oblivious to anything and everything else around

Girl, when we meet
I'll be the one that showers you with attention
To win your love
I'll fight until the very end
When you treat me like a fool
I'll be the one that doesn't need redemption
Yeah, drive me away, keep coming back again and again

I'll be the rain if you want me to be
Help you to grow with no guarantee
Even be the clown, sad but true
But don't use me up
Or I'll be the one that used to worship you

When silence fills your world
I'll be the one that knows what you're thinking
And when passion burns like fire
I'll be the one bathing in the light
When the curse of darkness falls
I'll be the one who offers a candle
I'll even be the cushion for things that go crazy in the night

I'll be the rain if you want me to be
Help you to grow with no guarantee
Even be the clown sad but true
But don't use me up
Or I'll be the one that used to worship you

The Sounds of Silence

by Paul Simon

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

'Fools,' said I, 'you do not know
'Silence like a cancer grows
'Hear my words that I might teach you
'Take my arms that I might reach you'
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the signs said: the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence

T-Shirts (What We Should Be Known For)

by Derek Webb

They'll know us by the T-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
At anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
Who cannot hide the scars
Of this curse that we all bear

They'll know us by our picket lines and signs
They'll know us by the pride we hide behind
Like anyone on earth is living right
And that isn't why Jesus died
Not to make us think we're right

When love, love, love
Is what we should be known for
Love, love, love
It's the how, and it's the why
We live and breathe and we die

They'll know us by reasons we divide
And how we can't seem to unify
Because we've gotta sing songs a certain style
Or we'll walk right down that aisle
And just leave them all behind

They'll know us by the billboards that we make
Just turning God's words to cheap clichés
Says, 'What part of murder don't you understand?'
But we hate our fellow man
And point a finger at his grave

They'll know us by the T-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
Telling them their sins are worse than ours
Thinking we can hide our scars
Beneath these T-shirts that we wear

Isn't It a Pity

by George Harrison

Isn't it a pity
Isn't it a shame
How we break each other's hearts
And cause each other pain
How we take each other's love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't it a pity

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Your eyes can't hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Now, isn't it a pity

Country Comfort

by Bernie Taupin

Soon the pines will be falling everywhere
Village children fight each other for a share
And the 6:09 goes roaring past the creek
Deacon Lee prepares his sermon for next week

I saw grandma yesterday down at the store
She's really going fine for eighty-four
She asked me if sometime I'd fix her barn
Poor old girl, she needs a hand to run the farm

And it's good old country comfort in my bones
Just the sweetest sound my ears have ever known
Just an old-fashioned feeling, fully grown
Country comfort's in a truck that's going home

Down at the well they've got a new machine
The foreman says it cuts manpower by fifteen
But that ain't natural, well so old Clay would say
You see he's a horse-drawn man until his dying day

Now the old fat goose is flying 'cross the sticks
The hedgehog's done in clay between the bricks
And the rocking chair's creaking on the porch
Across the valley moves the herdsman with his torch

Time Stand Still

by Neil Peart

I turn my back to the wind
To catch my breath before I start off again
Driven on without a moment to spend
To pass an evening with a drink and a friend

I let my skin get too thin
I'd like to pause, no matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim who learns to transcend
Learns to live as if each step was the end

Time stand still
I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now
Time stand still
See more of the people and the places that surround me now

Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away

I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes, let my defences down
All those wounds that I can't get unwound

I let my past go too fast
No time to pause, if I could slow it all down
Like some captain whose ship runs aground
I can wait until the tide comes around

Time stand still
I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now
Time stand still
See more of the people and the places that surround me now

Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Make each impression a little bit stronger
Freeze this motion a little bit longer
The innocence slips away

Summer's going fast, nights growing colder
Children growing up, old friends growing older
Experience slips away

Heart of Gold

by Neil Young

I want to live, I want to give
I've been a miner for a heart of gold
It's these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

I've been to Hollywood, I've been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold
I've been in my mind, it's such a fine line
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

Old Man

by Neil Young

Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were

Old man, look at my life
Twenty-four and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two

Love lost, such a cost
Give me things that don't get lost
Like a coin that won't get tossed
Rolling home to you

Old man, take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
The whole day through
One look in my eyes
And you can tell that's true

Lullabies, look in your eyes
Run around the same old town
Doesn't mean that much to me
To mean that much to you

I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past
But I'm all alone at last
Rolling home to you

Old man, take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
The whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
And you can tell that's true

Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were
Old man, look at my life
I'm a lot like you were

Any Road

by George Harrison

I've been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike
With a bus and a train
Traveling there and traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But we pay the price
With a spin of the wheel
With a roll of the dice
You pay your fare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

I've been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future
Through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the wave
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But we've got to fight
With the thoughts in the head
With the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
If you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

You may not know where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered how you got this far

I've been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth
By the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow

But it's a game
Sometimes you're cool
Sometimes you're lame
It's somewhere
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

Table for Two

by Derek Webb

Danny and I spent another late night over pancakes
We talked about soccer and how every man's just the same
And made speculation on the 'who's and the 'when's of our futures
And how everyone's lonely, but still we just couldn't complain

And how we just hate being alone
Could I have missed my only chance?
And now I'm just wasting my time
Looking around

But you know I know better, I'm not gonna worry 'bout nothing
'Cause if the birds and the flowers survive, then I'll make it okay
Given a chance and a rock, see which one breaks a window
And see which one keeps me up all night and into the day

Because I'm so scared of being alone
That I forgot what house I live in
But it's not my job to wait by the phone
For her to call

Well this day's been crazy, but everything's happened on schedule
From the rain and the cold to the drink that I spilled on my shirt
'Cause You knew how You'd save me before I fell dead in the garden
And You knew this day long before You made me out of dirt

And You know the plan You have for me
And You can't plan the ends and not plan the means
And so I suppose I just need some peace
To get me to sleep

Who Am I

by Kyle Hollingsworth

Through my senses I'm reliving
Childhood memories from my past
But in an instant it is over
Fading quickly from my mind

In the photo with piano
I see a man whose time has gone
I knew him only for a moment
But in his spirit I live on

What I was I am
It all comes 'round again
And who he used to be
Is still a part of me

An early morning, cold December
A family gathered all around
Taken back what I was given
Open grave site, frozen ground

I see my hands, they are my father's
Time has worn my fingers thin
Humor, laughter, ever after
My heart still remembers him

All the moments seldom last
And memories they fade so fast
I turn away, and life has passed

Who am I?

The Late Show

by Jackson Browne

Everyone I've ever known has wished me well
Anyway that's how it seems, it's hard to tell
Maybe people only ask you how you're doing
'Cause that's easier than letting on how little they could care
But when you know that you've got a real friend somewhere
Suddenly all the others are so much easier to bear

Now to see things clear it's hard enough, I know
While you're waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled onto someone real, you'd never know

You could be with somebody who is lonely too
[Sometimes it doesn't show]
He might be trying to get across to you
[Words can be so slow]
When your own emptiness is all that's getting through
There comes a point when you're not sure why you're still talking
I passed that point long ago

I'm so tired of all this circling
And all these glimpses of the end
'You know it's useless to pretend'
That's all the voices say
'You'll go right on circling
'Until you've found some kind of friend'

I saw you through the laughter and the noise
You were talking with the soldiers and the boys
While they scuffled through your weary smiles
I thought of all the empty miles
And the years that I've spent looking for your eyes

And now I'm sitting here wondering what to say
[That you might recognize]
Afraid that all these words might scare you away
[Break through the disguise]
No one ever talks about their feelings anyway
Without dressing them in dreams and laughter
I guess it's just too painful otherwise

It's like you're standing in the window of a house nobody lives in
And I'm sitting in a car across the way
Let's just say it's an early model Chevrolet
Let's just say it's a warm and windy day
You go and pack your sorrow, the trash man comes tomorrow
Leave it at the curb and we'll just roll away

Daylight

by Jason Isbell

She's got me tied in a knot
That's what I thought she'd do
Don't ask me what's on my mind
I'm fine, I'll push on through
Not much to see on this angry street
So I'll sleep the day away
Look past my barnacled mind and in time
I'll roll the stone away

While we still have the daylight
I might look these lessons in the eye
While we still have the daylight
I might become some brand-new kinda guy

Brass knuckles and birds on a wire retire
But no one gets free
I'd pay to tear these chains away
This steel sympathy
Cut bait and cold-black forty weight
No one can sing for me
They fall down with grease in their eyes and cry
How could this come to be?

Forever Young

by Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright, and be strong
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young

Crazy Parade

by Grace Potter

Summer's on the rise and I am flying
The good days have come around again
I'm up on top of a big black rock with some people I call friends
We're half a mile from heaven and back again

I'm never coming down from the mountain
Never will I forget about today
I'll always smile when I think about it
This life is a crazy parade

I don't have to dream, all I gotta do is look around
We have so little time before it all falls down
Valley deep, river wide, and the sky so high
Keep my head on up, keep my feet on the ground

No such thing as a better place
No such time as right now
There is no fame, and there is no disgrace
So come on, baby, let me show you how

Ripple

by Robert Hunter

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home

Days of Wonder

by Jakob Dylan

Cherry-picking through the stars and falling cannonballs
Waiting for the break of dawn to start its morning crawl
Polluted rays of filtered light, tropical and warm
Making shadows through the snow-white, resin-covered skulls
Happy birthday to the war

Standing by the wall, a rainbow made of stars
Under seven different shades of grey spreading out across the arc
Days of wonder spent out there killing time
Now this may not leave a mark on me, but I sure as hell was there

Caravanning on the moonlit, locust-covered trail
We came out like a stream of bats exploding from the well
Slipping through the whirlpools of trees and floating cars
Behind a winter-coated mule down record-breaking falls
Into oblivion's open jaws

Days of wonder spent by a rainbow made of stars
Under seven different shades of grey spreading out across the arc
Standing by the wall out there killing time
This may not leave a mark on me, but I sure as hell was there

Educated under God to walk a neutral line
Give me neither poverty nor riches in my time
Take my body and my mind, my heart is far behind
With one dozen poems in my ears ricocheting wild

Days of wonder

Letters from the Waste Land

by Jakob Dylan
(edited by Steven Mitchell)

Now coming down from out of this swan dive to your arms
I make no sounds when I move through your reservoir
But I wake up quick
And I wake up sick
As you abandon me into these fields of rank and file

Through this crowd I hear you breathing
And through these bars I watch them bring more in

Now I send back letters from the waste land home
Where I slow dance to this romance on my own
It may take two to tango, but boy, it's one to let go
It's just one to let go

Now boy, keep still, don't spread yourself around
Get back in line, eat your bread, and just work the plow
'Cause you're not through
They're not done with you
Did you think you were the only one that's been let down?

So sleep tight, little boys of the new damned
Another drop in the tidal wave of quicksand

Now I send back letters from the waste land home
Where I slow dance to this romance on my own
It may take two to tango, but boy, it's one to let go

Now another bad idea gets through
Down the assembly line to you
You're every bridge I should have burned
Every lesson I've unlearned
In this smoke-filled waiting room
With incarcerated lovesick fools
I will wait for you to cut me loose
Till then I...

Send back letters from the waste land home
Where I slow dance to this romance on my own
Now I send back letters from the waste land home
From where I slow dance to this romance on my own

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

by T. S. Eliot

S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo
Questa fiamma staria sensa piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question...
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?'
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!']
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!']
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

. . . . .

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

. . . . .

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter
I am no prophet—and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: 'That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.'

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
'That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant at all.'

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.