Lyrics
Click on a song title to view the lyrics to the song
Album: Best of Many Days
What happened to the easy that we all understood?
America’s true heart, peace and all that’s good?
There used to be reasons to believe in a dream
But they shot him in Dallas
They shot him in Memphis
They shot him in LA
What happened to the freedom where brave men once stood?
America’s future now, what becomes of you?
There used to be reasons to believe in a dream
But they shot him in New York
They shot him in DC
Now they shoot us on Main Street
Chorus:
Long may she still wave
Keep your eye on the prize
Independence Day
Happy Fourth of July
Solo
As all seems hopeless now and just when I am sure
All is lost and forgotten, washed away from our shores
Through the clouds dark and desperate shines a light so pure
No they won’t stop a river
No they won’t stop an ocean
No they won’t break a dream
chorus
Album: Best of Many Days
Through the tears it looked like rain on the windshield
And all those hands were fit to be tied
They are wringing you dry until your all in tatters
What matters is you try, try,try
You should have taken that right turn sooner than later
Instead of waiting for all those years to fly
Even with every high beam making you blind
What matters is you try, try, try
Bridge: Leaving behind another lonely lifetime, the suitcase
Packed with your memories, Leaving the rest along the roadside,
We only get one ticket to ride.
She woke you up this morning with a sunrise
And a table spread with all her dreams and smiles
It may have taken years but you are here and you survived
What matters is you try, try, try
Try, try try.
Album: Best of Many Days
One step beyond, where answers are free
It takes a lifetime, to finally see
Lightness and grace, to all a gift
A tear on a face, a smile you’ve missed
One step beyond
One step beyond, safe travels old friend
If you make it through, find a song to send
Teach us to be strong, on our burying day
Every minute gone, a simple breath away
One step beyond
Bridge: Fields of Texas Blue and I can’t help thinking
Of an afternoon, sitting by a fire singing clear and true,
The only way that anyone could ever reach you
One step beyond, it’s the final scene
The fade to black, welcome to the dream
Through dark mountains, into Galway mist
Across midnight moors, you’ve waited for this
One step beyond, one step beyond, one step beyond.
Album: Best of Many Days
Laying in my bed and I’m waiting for a train
That flies down the valley, every night
Staring at my ceiling and dreaming of riding that train
For a million miles
Chorus:
Someday I’m going to lose this place, I’ve never been to China
Too far it won’t be too far away, I’ve never been to China
Someday I’m going to lose this place, this place
Someday I’m going to lose this place
And I’m watching from my corner those cars go driving so fast
So big, so shiny.
With their smiling faces behind the wheel, dancing in their mirrors as
They look behind me
Chorus
I leave those voices behind closed doors, no more cries in the long
Lonely nights to be ignored
And I’l say goodbye to whisky who stayed too long, oh what two
People can do when their demons roar, when their demons roar
It was a violent night nearly every night, somebody paid the price
It was usually me
Now I get up in the morning put a smile on my face
I’m all right, the dishes are clean
chorus
Album: Best of Many Days
Lisa Marie, did you ever long to be
Queen of the prom, dance till dawn
Fall into your Daddy’s arms?
Lisa Marie, all covered in flashbulbs blinding
Lines of long Cadillacs idling
Flowers piled on your lawn
It’s your Grace-behind the notes on the big white gates
It’s your Grace-it’s all your grace now
Lisa Marie, it must be so hard to go back
Everything gone or it’s wrapped in black
Nothing left of the happy days
Lisa Marie, alone at the top of your stairs
With a long silver streak of hair
And a sixties memory
Chor
Bridge: The bottom of your garden well
It’s wishes piled high where we all
Left our goodbyes, we all left our goodbyes
Lisa Marie, watching it rain down our tears
From a blue blue suede Memphis sky
Year after year
Album: Best of Many Days
My father drove a Pontiac to his dying day
After years of wishing and hoping and praying
He believed in whiskey and miracles in the air
He believed in the angels, believed in the angels out there
He said ride with me to the end of the long white line
Where the most beautiful smile hangs there in the sky
All red gold and blue, an electric wild eye
Those are the angels, those are angels on fire
Beyond that neon and the shimmer in the mist
Miles from here the place where the broken find some rest
And the dust it gets washed down with every last ounce of regrets
And the ice it never melts, and the juke box never quits it never quits
We let no rain fall between us
We’re the last of the line here
Singing sweet as darkness calls us
Under skies so near
Believing in the whiskey and the miracles in the air
Don’t forget to make your wishes don’t forget to say your prayers
My father drove a Pontiac…etc.
Album: Best of Many Days
As we live each day for the journey
As it comes and wherever it goes
The sun still wins her fight with the darkeness
Somehow she always knows
That we’re the lucky ones
Inside the picture
Painted with a fine brush
We’re the lucky ones
It may hail and rain around us
But it never falls between us
Beneath the skin
Where it sometimes hurts the deepest
Not even smiles
Can ever really hide it
Behind the laughs
It just gets harder to fake it
When it’s all wrapped up inside
And we’re the lucky ones
Still here to feel the winds
And the songs that they send
We’re the lucky ones
Play that slow mandolin
Found along some old road we’ve bee
And it may not always be getting better
Even though that old song says it will
Someday soon we may all be forgotten
But we’re sure to be forgiven
Cause we’re the lucky ones
We’re the lucky ones
We’re the lucky ones
We’re the lucky ones
Album: Best of Many Days
The middle of nowhere used to be somewhere
Where a man could find some peace
Drivin all night gone -into the morning dawn
Worlds you’ve always chased within reach
There was a smile here on your face
It’s the final mile here in this race
Runnin 16 hours long and straight is that a tear on your face
A tear on your face
Drivin with no regrets
A steady job a sure bet
While 18 wheels sang their song
The rigs are going to drive themselves
Nobody up there at the helm
And no heart to sing along
Chorus
Gone up in a cloud of smoke
All used up and feelin’ broke
This ain’t no dream and it ain’t no joke
Least they left you with your memories
Least they left you with your memories
Now sittin’ in that easy chair
Never got much wear and tear
Now it’s home to all that’s left
Starin’ off into thin air
Nobody left to care
Goodbye to highways and good pay checks
Chorus
Album: Best of Many Days
Young and seventeen, pockets full of dreams
And the strength of several men
I never looked back, I never looked down
I never went home again
Of course I ignored the wisdoms
Stories I was told
Blind to all the fears and the dread
Diving off the cliffs into the great unknown
No place I’d rather be instead
Were those the best of my many days?
Running on rocket fuel
Were those the best of my many days?
While hourglass sand runs through
They said time will take its toll
And time will have its way
It breaks a man each and every day
We all stand to face it, no one ever beats it
Time always wins this game
Were those the best of my many days?
I’m not ready to come home
Were those the best of my many days?
As the hourglass sand runs low
How was it that she knew, there would be a way,
To make it through, and we never looked back, we never looked down
She said in time every cloudy day turns to blue
Now I stand here before you and look you in the eye
Seeing things I’ve never seen before
Each day brings a new day, better than the last day
Knocking on my front door
These are the best of my many days
Singing to my tired old bones
These are the best of my many days
She turns the hour glass sand to gold
She turns the hour glass sand to gold
She turns the hour glass
She turns the hour glass
Album: Best of Many Days
The sun still shines above the darkness
On the days we’ve lost our way
When everything can feel so heartless
The sky she always smiles above the rain
When all appears undone
She smiles, she smiles on everyone
I see blue skies when the others
Cry each morning sisters brothers
Try and do the best you can
All will mend is due time
While the sky, she smiles above the rain
She smiles, she smiles above the rain
Open your hand there’s a gift here for taking
Do what you can, it’s your life you are making
Remember the past share a story for telling
It’s a story worth saving
Broken glass may last forever
Still a chance for better weather
All those years may still seem close
We’ve got hope we’ve got each other
Here, she smiles above the rain
Right here, she smiles above the rain
She smiles on everyday
Album: Best of Many Days
I’ve gambled all my younger years
With the gypsies and the dime store dears
I’ve lost more than I ever feared
I looked up and those years were gone
Facing the music with a handful of wires
Singing for dreamers and habitual liars
It was my choice and my desire
And I would not change a thing
Around the fires
I’m holding tight to my ground
Out here on the edge of this town
I’ve followed the wildest untamed rivers
Still searching for a deep blue sea
Superhighways and dead end streets
They have all looked good to me
Chorus
We try and we try to reach the top
Of a mountain made of solid rock
My heart keeps saying don’t you stop
And I won’t, it’s all that I got
Chorus
Album: Best of Many Days
Miracles happen on Saint Marks Place
Up on the roof holding hands
It only takes a moment standing in grace
Who knows then what the Gods have planned
Hey, hey, hey, yay, yay, that was the summer
Hey, hey, hey, yay,yay, that was the summer
It was
Dancin’ on the corner to Patti Smith
It was hot and it was rarely dry
Loud and smoky and smelling of risk
Saw the Ramones that night and we cried
Hey, hey, hey, yay, yay, that was the summer
Hey, hey, hey, yay, yay, that was the summer
Living life large on the lower east side
Waking up the fires deep inside
Two hearts burning like a live wire
Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn
Miracles happen on Saint Marks Place
Down on the street the world moves on
Those were the best of the many days
Among so many forgotten and gone
Hey, hey, hey, yay, yay, that was the summer
Hey, hey, hey, yay, yay, that was the summer
It was
Album: Best of Many Days
Drivin past the old school I remember it well
Runnin’ through those hallways, the ringing of the bells
And the fateful day we all woke up
Inside a living hell
Cryin Shame shame shame, shame shame shame, shame shame shame
This world has got to change
The crazy guy you pray will never come out here to call
Shows up with an AR 15 loaded for us all
Run as fast as you can hope that you won’t have to crawl
Cryin’ Shame shame shame, shame shame shame, shame shame shame
This world has got to change
After the funerals, clean up and the blame
The Nation in horror, things won’t ever be the same
Politicans stand with the NRA
Speak up or it will all stay the same
Speak up now or it will surely happen again
They tore down the old school and left a plaque there on the lawn
Remembering what used to be and those who now are gone
Our class it got much smaller at the barrel of a gun
Chorus: This world is gonna change
chorus
Album: Wake Up Call
This is to all who find themselves
Not playing on the old school yard
But running for their lives and not much else
To the drumming of their own desperate hearts
To the drumming of their own desperate hearts
And it’s blood and bullets now on our minds
The times they haven’t changed that much
Come a day we’ll honor all those who have died
And remember the less fortunate ones
Remember the less fortunate ones
Chorus:
Let us pray as the day goes dark
White gloves, polish and flowers in the park
March the main streets and the boulevards
On a Veteran’s Day, on a Veteran’s Day.
As new rains fall on our holy house
The biggest rains I’ve ever seen
A wild blue wind whipping burning red clouds
And the crazy white lightening in between
The crazy white lightening in between
Chorus
Bridge: The sky tries smiling, painted up
Dry leaves flying, I can’t stop
Wishing a rainbow
Before the last flood washes over us
To leave us here to lie or swim
Let’s all join together and celebrate
And remember all that could have been
Remember all that could have been
Chorus
Album: Wake Up Call
There used to be an American Dream
We were all born to be free
And live on the set of a Hollywood screen
Pledging allegiance
Everybody driving a Cadillac
Making a beeline to Las Vegas and back
With all our chips in a great big stack
Pledging Allegiance
Take a long walk through a company town
On what used to be solid ground
Where nobody was ever gonna get sized down
Pledging allegiance
When all those dollars they headed south
Taking the food right out of the baby’s mouths
Down in Mexico they don’t complain as loud
Pledging allegiance
Bridge:
We can send a man to walk upon the Moon
We can march him down the street to push a broom
We can give him a gun and teach him how to shoot, we teach him to shoot
One hundred and thirty will fry an egg
And it will take the skin right off of your legs
But the sidewalk is still the place to beg
Pledging allegiance
Between the lines of those stars and stripes
The fine print says that we have some rights
To a steam grate on the coldest night
Pledging allegiance, pledging allegiance
Album: Wake Up Call
1945-it’s a long time gone
But not forgotten, we know its name
To all who died, or who barely survived
It’s not easy stopping a runaway train
Once a year we fall to our knees and pray
For every lost soul on the first of May
That’s when love finally found a way
Back from the edge of the devil’s flame
Chorus:
Voices of the old days
Their stories live on in the shadows and the rain
Voices of the old days
Still much to teach us
And much to explain
Who knows where that great pain, it finally goes?
You just have to trust your sorrow
As candles burn through the night in the snow
Melting their way down to the ash below
Chorus:
Voices of the old days
Their stories live on in the dust and the bone
Voices of the old days
Walk their weary paths of flowers and stone
Hear the echos in the miles between
We’ve been a long time traveling
Be glad to be here, or anywhere at all
And hope this world won’t come unraveling
Chorus
Album: Wake Up Call
Words by White Rose/ Public Domain
Somebody has to make a start
Somebody had to face the smiling beast
They know the war, the war was lost
Have the courage now to speak
Chorus:
White Rose, White Rose
She said I have to go away
White Rose, White Rose
On such a fine, fine, sunny day
And with the hand that moves the cradle
Standing up to the mighty might
And in one’s heart it’s to be noble
Face the beast while shattering the night
Chorus
Millions of Roses falling from the sky
A paper rain while the whole world cried
No stopping even one single child
Who believes…
Somebody had to make a start
And so many now believe it
Freiheit, es lebe die freiheit
A long stem clenched in our teeth
chorus