Brickyard

I never saw your hair so red
I never saw your hair so red
like water through the brickyard close to where you live
I never saw your hair so red

I never saw you dressed so plain
I never saw you dressed so plain
that quilted skirt between your knees got wet in the rain
you took it off and looked so plain

I never saw you dance before
I never saw you dance before
in spite of all that summer with our feet still on the floor
I never saw you dance before

Meet me at Baker’s field
meet me at Baker’s field
we’ll shoot rockets to the night with first base at our heels
meet me at Baker’s field

Jean Louise

Wake up Scout there’s something smoking the trees
the nightingales are fleeing and the mad dogs in the street
Papa’s got the answers and your brother thinks he knows
the neighborhood’s on fire the camellias are frosted cold

Jean Louise I’ll tell you that your bare feet are still too loud
for sneaking through the garden you’ve got bells on your ankles and the belfry’s in the ground
lilacs and violets and a shotgun blast
the mockingbird is in whispers like the sky before the flash

The neighborhood is lit up bright
and all the town is shooting wild
Run along Jean Louise while you’re still a child
Run along Jean Louise while you’re still a child

Teacher’s got an apple and trouble put a rose in your hair
last night your heard people fighting on the courthouse stairs
the jury got their man the judge had little to say
there’s a finch in your hand Scout you better let it fly away

Lightening in the morning and thunder in the afternoon
rain in the evening and you’ll be a woman soon
there’s a sparrow in your pocket it fell from the willow tree
everyone has got something that’s keeping them from being free

Wild Eyes

Born on a whim in a hold weathered hymn
in the sparks that fell from the moon
We aged in the light as it traced in the sky
in silver, gold, red, white, and blue

The promise of a car to bring dust back from Mars
we’d drive around until we get rich
Instead I’d take you home and park along the road
and huddle close to keep it lit

We thought it would stay like this forever
with all of our might and our wild open eyes together

Living by chance and dying in our plans
to make it to the edge of the earth
In the best of our days at sail on the plains
our fortunes in gusts of dirt

Each morning we wake to the tide of the bay
we wake to the salt in the air
Our labor songs, the barking of dogs
the anchor tame in our stare

Sunk in our beds and braided as threads
like the reeds your wove in your hair
Our howls and our hopes at the ends of our ropes
broken but babe we don’t care

Fire

Across the fence they’re hunting in the grass
at the top of the hill mama’s dressed in black
Hike up your skirt and climb the tree
you always look so good looking down at me
The sound of a wheel pushing through the mud
the smell of the rain and the fury of the flood
What we drank in the cellar it still burns my nose
pass out in the sun to feel it dry our clothes

Tonight the sky’s on fire
I wonder if it will spread
Tonight the sky’s on fire
Go on and wonder, go on and wonder

For so long we were young and full of our days
robed in the fields and the sound of your name
At night in the chapel at the tip of our tongues
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow will come
The curls in the wind and the ash in your hair
we couldn’t stay forever with this heat in the air
The smoke in my eyes as you’re trying to leave
lets go back to the woods and we can climb the trees

It’s half past three by the chimes on the Charles
remember we were found playing in the water
I’m holding to your letter with a ticking in my pocket
flat irons dragging us down to the bottom
Have you ever seen a river thats frozen to a crawl?
one that even Jesus Christ himself couldn’t thaw?
Looking over at the beauty of the nothing below
did you hear that I’m waiting for you to come home?

Susquehanna

High on the river when I saw you back when
you threw it all in at the banks and the bends
the Susquehanna slows when it gets to the end

I’ve come to hear the feign of your will
the grain in your voice and the still in your eyes
filling your pockets with sharp little pills
I’ve come to see if you’re still alive

You lifted your head when I came to the door
strung up the walls and collapsed on floor
your lizard boots and bells the lace of your clothes
I put up your picture but it still wasn’t home

So cling to me like the bible you got
or shoot me dead with that gun that you bought
I’ve come to learn we all can’t be sought

Your blood is still running though its not as fast
pushing you down the Chesapeake on through
everything dies and it don’t come back
before I die I’ll come back you

New World

Since the Conestoga fire, and the raid from Paxtang
Fulton Hall’s been haunted by a wailing beneath the stage
Somewhere in the woods the boys are making way
from the West End where I sleep I can hear it call my name

There are bells in the steeple of the downtown Trinity
one for faith, for manifest, and one for destiny
They rang through the prison, they rang on Christmas Eve
when we were young we’d hear them ring in William’s old growth trees

It’s a new world

Don’t you remember when the boys came from the north
and burned their way from Paxtang to break down the prison doors
That Sunday morning service broke up by the siege
you were on the corner looking out in to the street

I’ve got a feeling about how the west was won
not for land, silver, gold, but the thrill of the gun
Though I stand before you, in the new age that has come
somewhere in our hearts there’s still a beating settler’s drum

Emma

You always got your nose in something your eyes get wide when you know whats coming
they’re green but the speed you’re running makes it hard to tell
You hold your breath when you hear your name and always made your words so plain
you’re different but it’s all the same I’m lonesome as hell

Stretched out on the kitchen floor summer with your hair cut short
wondering what you’re waiting for it’s too soon to go
All the birds and all the trees know where they will always be
when the wind comes to take the leaves Emma you’ll be home

You face the cold and I’ll face the wind
it won’t be long until it’s warm again

You never cared for making sense or the diamonds of a chain linked fence
like the space between your skin and dress there’s a diamond on your chest
Emma I found you in the bells hanging to that ringer well
it takes an age to find yourself we all could use some rest

Across the pond and down the road through the graveyard’s staggered stones
the grass lies between your toes and you’re doing well
I remember you in the yard, your dress, the dust, the packed up car
on our backs beneath the Badland stars as if we just fell

Ohio

We drove all day around the Great Lake
September has never seen such heat
You read out loud to keep me awake
as the rain filled up the streets

Ohio, its weary light
the way you look in the dark
At night we slept like stones lie still
laid to rest in the arch

December weather comes much too soon
I called up from the bottom stair
The thought of winter in your room
at the top, your back was bare

Muddy Run

You must have been in the sun, you were dry to the bone
let me take you in the rain, where the mud turns to gold

We got lost in the glen, in the wild laurel’s hold
running through the stream, where the mud turns to gold

We followed the sound, of the rattle of the wood
and in the cover of the mouth, of the bridge I held to you

We climbed the truss above, now you can’t remember when
every car that passed below, shook like hell but felt like heaven

If you don’t come back for me, come for the glow in the ground
and the hills and alchemy, and for the fortune of the sound

You must have been in the sun, you weren’t looking well
we’re going to the field, where the rain breaks the spell

Nuns with Guns

Nuns with guns out on the run just to get their fill, and the skin I’m in was peeled back again at the sight of their last kill, this world was made by two men who fed from the beast. Train tracks laid by atom bombs and soldiers packed in railroad cars, slinking down the coast line to their ships to go to war, hold me close and maybe we can keep the peace

Tanks roll down the orchard lane with guns ablaze in a ripe cascade, destruction is an apple and progress is its seed, dynamite is growing from our trees. Hanging on a naked branch was temptation since the world began, the fuse is lit and wrapped up like a serpent at our feet, curl your toes in the dirt and feel the heat

The nuns took to the highest hill to plan for their escape, and the soldiers were hit with raindrops the size of their grenades, water is rising up and over our knees. Lovers waiting in their beds with dirges playing in their heads, two by two they line up for their pushers or their priests, and the bands still playing out and in the streets

Washed away into the night we try to catch our breath, and the sun was shot to shit and bleeding oranges and reds, we’re looking to the moon to make it recede. Trumpets filled with water and the drums lost in the tide, are we swimming to the next war or treading for our lives? The thought of you is making me go weak

Open Space

Sleeping in the valley the mountains dream a ring around the sky, with all the good luck for you the clouds roll over just to say goodbye, the old dog at your feet you’re leaving and you know he can tell, the corn stalks are waving and the cottonwoods just fell for your farewell

Your fires turn to street lights burning bright to greet you into town, but you don’t care much for them and hope some day they will crumble to the ground, the hurricane at sea is dumping all his rain at your feet, the autumn winds are blowing so curl up like the leaves in the street

Just give it one more day babe winter turns to spring in just an hour, time is moving faster like a river running picks up its power, when you lie awake wishing city life would fade away, I hope that when you give in you dream of open space until the day

Loose Lips

Four stories high we sat starry eyed as the moonlight dripped from the sky, now its hard staying sane with that wine still in my veins and your lips won’t call my name no more your lips won’t call my name

Every hour gets worse each moments a curse as your heart ticks back and forth, but if you’d seem to find that you just don’t have the time well I’d slow the earth with these hands of mine, now with these hands of mine

I fell from grace and my hearts been misplaced, I think its a stones throw away, but I see it in your eyes and the way you say goodnight that you just might change your mind, you just might change your mind

I feel misused and often a fool at every thought of you, well its true loose lips and ambivalence will quickly sink your ships, they’ll quickly sink your ships

Jean Louise

Wake up Scout there’s something smoking in the trees, the nightingales are fleeing and the mad dogs in the street, Papa’s got the answers and brother thinks he knows, the neighborhood is on fire but the camellias are frosted cold

Jean Louise I’ll tell you that your bare feet are still too loud, for sneaking through the garden you’ve got bells on your ankles and the belfry’s in the ground, lilacs and violets and shotgun blast, the mockingbirds in whispers like the sky before the flash

The neighborhood is lit up bright, and all the town is running wild, run along Jean Louise while you’re still a child

Teachers got an apple and trouble put a rose in your hair, last night your heard people fighting on the courthouse stairs, the jury got their man and the judge had little to say, there’s a finch in your hand scout you better let it fly away

Lightening in the morning and thunder in the afternoon, rain in the evening and you’ll be a woman soon, there’s a sparrow in your pocket it fell from the willow tree, everyone’s got something that keeping them from being free

Into the Land

The river like your veins run deep and the mountains in your heart have begun to show, the roots have got your feet and the branches in your eyes have begun to grow, your fingers like the trails and the dirt beneath your nails are getting old, your ears are in their rows and the mud thats on your clothes is taking hold
Babe if I could meet your skies I’d remind you of a different time, because its more than I can stand to watch you fade into that land

Its hard for me to understand with these moving cars and city lights, that the stars above your head are pulling you in more each night, and somewhere in the grass you’re lying on your back and on your side, the moonlight in your hair and the lost look in your stare has got your mind

You’ve run up into the hills, well its been so long, those red shoes that you wear I hope will take you somewhere you belong

Einstein Said

You left I know what’s to blame, falling in and out of love is just gravity, you’re just a weight tied to my feet pulling me to my knees

I’m not old and I’m not wise, I’m not the kind to theorize, but one thing I know is that since you’re gone time won’t move along

We were nose to nose and toes to toes for hours in your bed, now an hour seems like a minute’s dream and its just like Einstein said

Its not in the books I’ve read, that all the beauty in the world is relative, the country’s red glow will pale in its place when you show your face

Break the Day

Sneaking past your eyelids its brighter than before, its crawling up your windows and creeping across the floor, you’re missing in the covers lost in the draft, the cold’s just a feeling you get when you don’t have

Ooo, break the day

Briars on your bedpost to toughen your skin, heaven know’s you’ll need it when its all too much again, the sun’s got you in panic it did the whole night through, get up and draw the curtains before it breaks you

Susquehanna

High on the river when I saw you back when, you threw it all in at the banks and the bends, the Susquehanna slows when it gets to the end

I’ve come to hear the feign of your will, the grain in your voice the still in your eyes, filling your pockets with sharp little pills, I’ve come to see if you’re still alive

You lifted your head as I came to the door, strung up the walls and collapsed on the floor, your lizard boots and bells and the lace of your clothes, I put up your picture but it still wasn’t home, I put up your picture but it still wasn’t home

So cling to me like that bible you’ve got, or shoot me dead with that gun that you bought, I’ve come to learn we all can’t be sought

Your blood’s still running though it’s not as fast, pushing you down the Chesapeake on through, everything dies and it don’t come back, before I die I’ll come back to you

Midnight in the Chapel

Midnight in the chapel with just the pipes to catch out breath, moonlights finds its way through the holes in your patch dress, you picked the locks while I kept watch for security, and at that time I knew that I should keep you close to me

You thought that you could fool me writing songs up on the couch, but the look that you had in your eyes had me six feet off the ground, your legs wrapped up on top of mine my hands upon these strings, I could hear things start to change in the country songs you’d sing

I know you’re hard I know you’re meek but you must surely see, like whiskey in my whiskey you’re intoxicating me, within our clothes I’ll hold you close just to hear you blink, baby with the lights off you know we can think

We lie awake inside this cave to pick up on all the tricks, now Einstein ain’t the only one thats good with arithmetic, your fingertips and moving hips melt the nerves in our spines, but the earth shakes and my heart aches for the curvature of your mind

Midnight on a rooftop I know there’s more to see, but the thought of you leaving has got me tripping in the streets, you’ll be in the country with the chickens and the hay, I’ll be in the city still looking for what to say