Speed Trap Town

by Jason Isbell

She said, 'It's none of my business, but it breaks my heart'
Dropped a dozen cheap roses in my shopping cart
Made it out to the truck without breaking down
Everybody knows you in a speed trap town

It's a Thursday night, but there's a high school game
Sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name
These 5A bastards run a shallow cross
It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss

And it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
And there's no one left to ask if I'm alright
I'll sleep until I'm straight enough to drive, then decide
If there's anything that can't be left behind

The doctor said Daddy wouldn't make it a year
But the holidays are over, and he's still here
How long can they keep you in the ICU?
Veins through the skin like a faded tattoo

Was a tough state trooper 'til a decade back
When that girl who wasn't Mama caused his heart attack
He didn't care about us when he was walking around
Just pulling women over in a speed trap town

But it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
When I realized he'll never be alright
Sign my name and say my last goodbye, then decide
That there's nothing here that can't be left behind

The road got blurry when the sun came up
So I slept a couple hours in the pickup truck
Drank a cup of coffee by an Indian mound
A thousand miles away from that speed trap town

Cuyahoga

by Michael Stipe

Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Our father's father's father tried
Erased the parts he didn't like
Let's try to fill it in
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it, you and me
We knee-skinned that river red

This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir

This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We knee-skinned it, you and me
We knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me
Underneath the river bed

This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir

Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Up underneath the river bed
We'll burn the river down

This is where they walked, swam
Hunted, danced, and sang
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir

Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Rewrite the book and rule the pages
Saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you

This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We are not your allies
We cannot defend

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

by Cole Porter

Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't
Have flashy flunkies everywhere? I don't
Who wants the bother of a country estate?
A country estate is something I'd hate

Who wants to wallow in champagne? I don't
Who wants a supersonic plane? I don't
Who wants a private landing field too? I don't
And I don't, 'cause all I want is you

Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't
Who wants uranium to spare? I don't
Who wants to journey on a gigantic yacht?
Do I want a yacht? Oh, how I do not

Who wants a fancy foreign car? I don't
Who wants to tire of caviar? I don't
Who wants a marble swimming pool too? I don't
And I don't, 'cause all I want is you

Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't
And go to every swell affair? I don't
Who wants to ride behind a liveried chauffeur?
A liveried chauffeur, do I want? No sir

Who wants an opera box I'll bet? I don't
And sleep through Wagner at the Met? I don't
Who wants to corner Cartiers, too? I don't
And I don't, 'cause all I want is you

You Did That for Me

by Sara Groves

I don't have to cry anymore
I don't have to worry about what's in store
I've walked that road exhausted and poor
I don't have to cry anymore

I don't have to know it all
I don't have to be so proud and stand so tall
I climbed that mountain only to fall
I don't have to know it all

You did that for me
You wore the chains so I could be free
You did that for me

And I don't have to be ashamed
Hang my head or shoulder the blame
Wondering if my life's been in vain
I don't have to be ashamed

Man of sorrows
Well acquainted with grief
Drug down to the city dump
Spread eagle on a cross beam
Propped up like a scarecrow
Nailed like a thief
There for all the world to see

All in the Golden Afternoon

by Lewis Carroll

All in the golden afternoon
      Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
      By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
      Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour.
      Beneath such dreamy weather.
To beg a tale of breath too weak
      To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
      Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
      Her edict 'to begin it'—
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
      'There will be nonsense in it!'—
While Tertia interrupts the tale
      Not more than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
      In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
      Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast—
      And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
      The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
      To put the subject by,
'The rest next time—' 'It is next time!'
      The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
      Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out—
      And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
      Beneath the setting' sun.

Alice! a childish story take,
      And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
      In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
      Pluck'd in a far-off land.