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Home (feat. Bethany & Peter Yarrow)

They say that home is where the heart is
but some hearts are forced to roam
I pray to Mother Mary in heaven
those wandering hearts will find a home

Mary sailed from Cork
in 1849
Mom sent her to New York
‘cause their potatoes died

One of countless tired and poor
packing only hope and will
Whose generations built
this shining city on the hill

Maria and her father
fled north to Mexico
What forced them from their land
you just don’t wanna know

Separated in El Paso
legal process has been slow
They knew that it was risky
didn’t know where else to go

They say that home is where the heart is
but some hearts are forced to roam
I pray to Mother Mary in heaven
those wandering hearts will find a home

I’ve got land on this earth
that the deeds say that I own
A warm place for my family
but it’s really just God’s loan

I’m a traveler through this life
I’ll be born and die alone
Hope I have Mother Mary’s blessing
when it’s my time to go home

They say that home is where the heart is
but some hearts are forced to roam
I pray to Mother Mary in heaven
those wandering hearts will find a home

Same River

Just saw her at that boatmen’s bar
beside the river bank
Where twenty years ago
we sat together there and drank
She’d hardly changed a bit
‘cept her left hand now was bare
I wanted to go over
but I just stood there and stared

Love flowed gently like that river
through those early years
But we hit some rocky rapids
she became a mutineer
We parted on a stormy night
with the current moving fast
In this world of changes
I guess we weren’t made to last

Though some memories never die
we can’t go back to change our lives
Can’t step in the same river twice

Though the river keeps its name
the flowin’ water ain’t the same
Can’t step in the same river twice
… same river twice

Why she picked that other guy
it left me mystified
Guess she was still so young
she thought that time was on her side
Trying to forget her
was like paddling upstream
Felt like I got stuck
on a sandbar of old dreams

Though some memories never die
we can’t go back to change our lives
Can’t step in the same river twice

Though the river keeps its name
The flowin’ water ain’t the same
Can’t step in the same river twice
… same river twice

I like to think I ain’t got no regrets
but I lie to myself every day
Let’s just call it stuff I should forget
‘cause tomorrow’s the only thing
I can try to change anyway

She saw and waved me over
I asked how her life had gone
She stood silent for a while
either years or moments long
Then she said “this is hard,
the only thing that’s clear
is we both know there’s no going back,
but let’s get another beer”

Though some memories never die
we can’t go back to change our lives
Can’t step in the same river twice

Though the river keeps its name
the flowin’ water ain’t the same
Can’t step in the same river twice
… same river twice
… same river twice

Witness Protection

I need witness protection
I need the marshal’s help
I can’t quit you by myself
I can’t quit you by myself

Like Burton and Liz Taylor
like cigars and gasoline
We’re just no good together
as exciting as we seem

Judged as incompatible
there won’t be no reprieve
It is my testimony
that I gotta leave

I need witness protection
gotta break the bad connection
gotta find a new direction
I need the marshal’s help

Witness protection
we got a dangerous affection
gotta erase all detection
I can’t quit you by myself
I can’t quit you by myself

When we first met, it was a case
of mistaken identity
I thought you were an angel
heaven sent for me

I soon discovered evidence
our bonding can’t survive
We need trial separation
let’s say forty years to life

I need witness protection
gotta break the bad connection
gotta find a new direction
I need the marshal’s help

Witness protection
we got a dangerous affection
gotta erase all detection
I can’t quit you by myself
I can’t quit you by myself

I’ll grow a beard and dye my hair
and paint on fake tattoos
Assume a new identity
some place like Timbuktu

I won’t use no cell phone
I’m helpless to your charms
‘Cause if I ever see you
I’d run back to your arms

I need witness protection
gotta break the bad connection
gotta find a new direction
I need the marshal’s help

Witness protection
we got a dangerous affection
gotta erase all detection
I can’t quit you by myself
I can’t quit you by myself

I can’t quit you by myself
I can’t quit you by myself

One Time In A Row

In Vegas I first saw her roll the dice
her silky skirt had me looking twice
She was winning every time
never thought I could make her mine

Just once in a row
one time in a row
She reached out to hold my hand
when the lights were low
She wrapped her arms around me
and we danced alone real slow
Only lucky streak I needed
was one time in a row
Just one time in a row

Never know when fate will spark romance
we met that day, just by chance
Not sure how I caught her eye
usually I’m not a lucky guy

Just once in a row
one time in a row
She closed her eyes and kissed me
when the lights were low
She wrapped her arms around me
and we danced alone real slow
Only lucky streak I needed
was one time in a row
Just one time in a row

To hold my life together
she became the glue
Though our luck’s run hot and cold
she stuck with me straight through

Now I’m on my longest winnin’ ride
‘cause she’s laying by my side
When dawn’s light eases out the night
and she says “please still hold me tight”

Good fortune comes and goes
but I quit playing long ago
I reach out to hold her hand
when the lights are low
I wrap my arms around her
and we dance alone real slow
Only lucky streak I needed
was one time in a row
Just one time in a row

Arkansas (feat. Bethany & Peter Yarrow)

Phillips County, Arkansas
Black sharecroppers
kept down by the law

Fifty years since Lincoln’s war
Emancipation
ain’t worth much anymore

I was sheriff and trouble was in store

I don’t blame the circumstances
don’t blame the place or time
When I had a choice ‘tween right and wrong
couldn’t quite make up my mind

I looked the other way
can’t pretend I didn’t know
But if I can’t own my own mistakes
what’s left to call my own?
What’s left to call my own?

I heard that farmers organized
Some were armed
the whites were terrified

Didn’t know what their intentions were
I formed a posse
needed to make sure

Were they a threat? Or were they just dirt poor?

I don’t blame the circumstances
don’t blame the place or time
When I had a choice ‘tween right and wrong
couldn’t quite make up my mind

I looked the other way
can’t pretend I didn’t know
But if I can’t own my own mistakes
what’s left to call my own?
What’s left to call my own?

I led the posse on its search
we found sharecroppers in a church
I heard “watch out, he has a gun”
then I just turned to run

The rifles’ echo in my head
tell the Devil count the dead
The rats, the mud, the misty cold
the stories never told

Should have kept my men under control

I don’t blame the circumstances
don’t blame the place or time
When I had a choice ‘tween right and wrong
couldn’t quite make up my mind

I looked the other way
can’t pretend I didn’t know
But if I can’t own my own mistakes
what’s left to call my own?
What’s left to call my own?

Phillips County, Arkansas
Black sharecroppers
were kept down by the law

Fake News

I got a new girl
she’s a news girl
see her nightly on TV

Text her emoticons
can’t wait to turn her on
when I switch to channel three

But I’ve been hearing
what I’ve been fearing
that she’ll just make me blue

But they’re just hating
prevaricating
‘cause I know she’d never be untrue

Someone’s putting out fake news
not been verified
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s got someone on the side
Someone’s putting out fake news
Who can it be?
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s steppin’ out on me

We met on Tinder
thought she was a winner
her photo looked pretty hot

I had to meet her
see how compatible we were
make sure she wasn’t just a bot

But photos on her phone
she couldn’t leave alone
of guys she kept checking again

She saw I worried
said in a hurry
oh, they’re just my cameramen

Someone’s putting out fake news
not been verified
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s got someone on the side
Someone’s putting out fake news
Who can it be?
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s steppin’ out on me

I get a little jealous
‘cause her ratings are high
Is she showing off her headlines
to some other guys?

Who’s putting out lies
‘bout other men she’s seein’?
Is it the CIA or maybe North Koreans?

Someone’s putting out fake news
not been verified
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s got someone on the side
Someone’s putting out fake news
Who can it be?
Rumor’s goin’ ‘round
that she’s steppin’ out on me

Fake news…
Fake news…
Fake news…
Fake news

Color Outside The Lines

I drew a flying dragon
with my favorite purple crayon
As a kid I didn’t care
teacher said to draw a man

I was gonna be a cowboy
or else find the Holy Grail
If I could just imagine it
there’s no way I could fail

Spreading greens and blues and brilliant hues
far as I could reach
No patterns to contain me
no boundaries I must keep

Improbable designs
long as they were mine
Nothing was more natural
than to color outside the lines
Than to color outside the lines

But now my life is full
of neat and tidy art
In a paint-by-numbers world
I’ve learned to play my part

Can’t complain, I’m doing fine
but after many years
Can’t quite remember how it felt
to dream without some fear

Spreading greens and blues and brilliant hues
far as I could reach
No patterns to contain me
no boundaries I must keep

Improbable designs
long as they were mine
But now I have forgotten
how to color outside the lines
How to color outside the lines

I dream that I could go back
and pick a path that I passed by
If I never take that chance
I’ll regret I didn’t try

Spreading greens and blues and brilliant hues
far as I can reach
No patterns to contain me
no boundaries I must keep

Improbable designs
long as they are mine
Now it’s time I learned again
how to color outside the lines
How to color outside the lines

How to color outside the lines
How to color outside the lines

When My Truck

You never liked it when you’d see me
with her on the street
Told me many times
you weren’t willing to compete

My hours with that Chevy
left me out of luck
You didn’t need me around
soon neither will my truck

When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll cruise at 55
Always stop when lights are red
plan for traffic up ahead

It’ll do the things I should have done
like knowing that you’re the one
When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll probably leave me too
It’ll probably leave me too

Gave me lots of warnings
I’m afraid I understand
You wanted conversation
not grimy boots and hands

I always thought that tomorrow’d be
the day I’d get you back
Is there a guy givin’ you
the romance that I lack?

When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll cruise at 55
Never passes on the right
checks for deer and elk at night

It’ll do the things I should have done
like knowing that you’re the one
When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll probably leave me too
To follow after you

That truck’ll be a genius
there’s nothing it won’t know
If it saw you packing up your bags
it’d beg you not to go

It’ll navigate to your place
buy flowers on the way
It’ll park outside your door and then
take you back to me to stay

When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll cruise at 55
Wash its windshield every morning
change lanes with proper warning

It’ll do the things I should have done
like knowing that you’re the one
When my truck learns how to drive
it’ll probably leave me too
To follow after you

I’d send that truck to drivin’ school
if I could
But I’m afraid
you’re gone for good

Each Other's Minds

He said I do, as he smiled
she said till death do us part
When two become one the hard work’s just begun
to learn to say what’s in your heart

Thought their love was secure, but sometimes not so sure
what the other was meaning to say
Watching each other for signs
that things between them were okay

‘Cause nobody taught her to know when he needs
to be held or be heard or left just to be
Don’t know how to say what’s deep inside
he’s nervous and angry, she’s hurt and she cries
It’s one of love’s most common crimes
they think they can read each other’s minds

He said he needs to work late
she said she’s got a deal on the coast
And two became one started wondering
which one loves the other the most

They began missing date nights and dinners
wanna stay together for the kids
But the kids stay away as much as they can
‘cause the problems have not been well hid

‘Cause nobody taught him to know when she needs
to be held or be heard or left just to be
Don’t know how to say what’s deep inside
he’s nervous and angry, she’s hurt and she cries
It’s one of love’s most common crimes
they think they can read each other’s minds

He says he wants to split up
she says whatever you say
And two became one became nothing
when their last bit of love slipped away

So now they feel lonely together
he says he’ll move out next week
They don’t really look at each other
and don’t really bother to speak

‘Cause nobody taught them to know when they need
to be held or be heard or left just to be
Don’t know how to say what’s deep inside
he’s nervous and angry, she’s hurt and she cries

It’s one of love’s most common crimes
they thought they could read each other’s minds
Each other’s minds

The Opium Wars

I rounded the point and first saw Kowloon
in the stormy spring of 1842

Britain claimed the right
to sell its drugs
so I was sent to fight

Sailed from London’s busy port
to bombard China’s forts

We sank their ships with ease
to sell our deadly
cargo to Chinese

I can’t escape the poppy’s curse
always needing something more
‘Cause when Eve bit to the apple’s core
the first shots were fired
in the opium wars
Still fight these opium wars

One night in port a girl so fair
in scarlet silk
led me down the stairs

Where I took the pipe
I was too young
to think about the price

As the smoke snares many men
silver keeps flowin’
up the Thames

I can’t escape the poppy’s curse
always needing something more
‘Cause when Eve
bit to the apple’s core
the first shots were fired
in the opium wars
Still fight these opium wars

Many years later it’s the same old game
Afghanistan to the streets of LA
Silver’s still the reason why
so much hope is left to die

I’ve always kept wanting more
Now I just want to get home from this war

I can’t escape the poppy’s curse
always needing something more
‘Cause when Eve bit to the apple’s core
the first shots were fired
in the opium wars
Still fight these opium wars
Still fight these opium wars

Soft And Gentle Smile

Only thing I heard was the pounding of my heart
I could hardly lift my arm to ring your door
But on that first date when you said “come on in”
you washed away the nerves I had before

Your soft and gentle smile
said that I should stay awhile
The calmness in your eyes put me at ease
Light touch of your hand
made me wanna be your man
Your soft and gentle smile said you agreed
Your soft and gentle smile spoke to me
spoke to me

Through years together there were times
I feared we got too near the edge
not sure you’d always wanna stay
When we were done our hurtin’
we’d always work things out
and you let me know that we were okay

With your soft and gentle smile
makes me glad I stayed awhile
Calmness in your eyes put me at ease
Light touch of your hand
makes me wanna be your man
Your soft and gentle smile says you agree
Your soft and gentle smile still speaks to me
speaks to me

With our adventures together
we’ve both got a little grey
Maybe we’re more likely to forget
But one thing’s never changed
I recognize that smile
the same as the first day that we met
that we met

Your soft and gentle smile
makes me glad I stayed awhile
The calmness in your eyes put me at ease
Light touch of your hand
makes me wanna be your man
Your soft and gentle smile says you agree
Your soft and gentle smile still speaks to me