The Carpenter

The Once and Future Carpenter

I ain't from Texas, but I made my way from Dallas
And I know the lonesome sound is following
And I ain't a gambler, but I can recognize a hand
And when to hold, when queens are staring back at me

Once I was a carpenter, and man my hands were calloused
I could swing a metal mallet sure and straight
But I took to the highway, a poet young and hungry
And I left the timbers where they lay

Forever I will move like the world that turns beneath me
And when I lose my direction I'll look up to the sky
And when the black cloak drags upon the ground
I'll be ready to surrender, and remember
Well we're all in this together
If I live the life I'm given, I wont be scared to die

And I don't come from Detroit, but her diesel motors pull me
And I followed till I finally lost my way
And now I spend my days in search of a woman I called purpose
And if I ever pass back through her town I'll stay

Forever I will move like the world that turns beneath me
And when I lose my direction I'll look up to the sky
And when the black dress drags upon the ground
I'll be ready to surrender, and remember
Well we're all in this together
If I live the life I'm given, I won't be scared to die

And my life is but a coin, it's pulled from an empty pocket
Dropped into a slot with dreams of sevens close behind
And these hopes and these fears go with it, and moon and the sun go spinning
Like the numbers and fruits before our eyes
Sometimes I hit, sometimes it robs me blind
Sometimes I hit, sometimes it robs me blind

Forever I will move like the world that turns beneath me
And when I lose my direction I'll look up to the sky
And when the black cloak drags upon the ground
I'll be ready to surrender, and remember
Well we're all in this together
If I live the life I'm given, I won't be scared to die

Live and Die

All it will take is
just one moment and
you can say goodbye to
how we had it planned

Fear like a habit,
run like a rabbit out and away.
Through the screen door
to the unknown.

And I want to love you and more.
I want to find you and more.
Where do you reside
When you hide? How can I find you?

'Cause I want to send you and more
I want to tempt you and more
can you tell that I am alive?
Let me prove it.

You and I, we're the same.
Live and die, we're the same.
Hear my voice, know my name,
you and I, we're the same.

Left like a pharaoh,
sing like a sparrow anyway.
Even if there is no land or
love in sight.

We bloom like roses,
leave like Moses out and away.
Through the bitter crowd
to the daylight.

And I want to love you and more.
I want to find you and more.
Can you tell that I am alive?
Let me prove it to ya.

You and I, we're the same.
Live and die, we're the same.
You rejoice, I complain,
but you and I, we're the same.
Live and die, we're the same.
You and I, we're the same.
Hear my voice, know my name,
you and I, we're the same.

And I want to love you and more.
I want to find you and more.
Where do you reside
When you hide? How can I find you?

'Cause I want to send you and more
I want to tempt you and more.
Can you tell that I am alive?
Let me prove it.

You and I, we're the same.
Live and die, we're the same.
You rejoice, I complain,
but you and I, we're the same.
Live and die, we're the same.
You and I, we're the same.
Hear my voice, know my name,
you and I, you and I.

Winter in My Heart

It must be winter in my heart
There's nothing warm in there at all
I missed the summer and the spring
The floating yellow leaves of fall

A million colors fill my eyes
The roman candles and the stars
The calendar says July 4
But it's still winter in my heart

They say flowers bloom in spring
Red and golden, blue and pink
They say seasons turn in time
Theirs are changing, why won't mine?

It must be winter in my heart
There's nothing warm in there at all
I missed the summer and the spring
The floating yellow leaves of fall

The air in there is frigid cold
I don't know what the reasons are
The calendar says August 1
But it's still winter in my heart

They say flowers bloom in spring
Red and golden, blue and pink
They say seasons turn in time
Theirs are changing, why won't mine?

It must be winter in my heart
I don't know what the reasons are
It must be winter in my heart

Pretty Girl from Michigan

Can you not see
What you've done
You gave your heart away like that I didn't want to fall
In love
With anyone but you did.

I can still hear
The song
The melody behind the kiss you gave me,
You were wrong
I was right so I walked away.

And left you there,
alone,
I got so tired of talking on the telephone.
How many times would we say the words "Goodbye"?

I made mistakes
and one
was telling you that I'd be there when telling-time had come.
I should've said I didn't care.

Oh the time I would have saved
If I had been less willing to accommodate.
You'd been a little less likely to cry.

You go back to the high life
And I'll go back to the low.
I should've known
But now I know.

There'll be no words
from you
Describing how it felt to go through what I put you through.
It all makes perfect sense.

The way you cut
The rope
That kept you dangling from such bitter full amounts of hope.
I would have cut it too.

I Never Knew You

Well I guess it's kinda funny how
I loved you so way back when.
You say I wouldn't know you now,
Well I didn't even know you then.

We take (we take)
A lot (a lot)
And no one here can stop
That train (that train)
Before (before)
It gets to where it's goin'.
And ah

Well I guess it's kinda funny how
I loved you so way back when.
You say I wouldn't know you now,
Well I didn't even know you then

I heard (I heard)
About (about)
The company you're keeping
And from (and from)
Someone (someone)
Who didn't have much interest
In keeping us apart.

Well I guess it's kinda funny how
I loved you so way back when.
You say I wouldn't know you now,
Well I didn't even know you then

And so I go out Friday night and talk to anyone I can.
If they can see me they can hear me run my mouth.
I tell them all I'd love to see you once again
Or maybe just run into you hanging out,
Hanging out.

You know (you know)
I lie (I lie)
So it comes as no surprise
When I (admit)
That I (that I)
Don't really want to reunite.

Well I guess it's kinda funny how
I loved you so way back when.
You say I wouldn't know you now,
Well I didn't even know you then.

So I guess it's kinda funny how
I loved you so way back when.
You say I wouldn't know you now,
Well, I didn't even know you then.
No, I didn't even know you then.
No, I didn't even know you then.

February Seven

I went on the search for something true
I was almost there when I found you
Sooner than my fate was wrote
A perfect blade, it slit my throat
And beads of lust released into the air
When I awoke you were standing there

I was on the mend when I fell through
The sky around was anything but blue
I found as I regained my feet, a wound across my memory
That no amount of stitches would repair
But I awoke and you were standing there

There's no fortune at the end of the road
That has no end
There's no returning to the spoils
Once you've spoiled the thought of them
There's no falling back asleep
Once you've wakened from the dream
Now I'm rested and I'm ready and I'm ready to begin

I went on the search for something real
Traded what I know for how I feel
But the ceiling and the walls collapsed
Upon the darkness I was trapped
And as the last of breath was drawn from me
Light broke in and brought me to my feet

There's no fortune at the end of the road
That has no end
There's no returning to the spoils
Once you've spoiled the thought of them
There's no falling back asleep
Once you've wakened from the dream
Now I'm rested and I'm ready and I'm ready to begin

I'm rested and I'm ready to begin

Through My Prayers

Hard to believe I won't see you again
We were just fighting when winter began
The coldness of our words competing with the wind from the north

Still they make me shiver but in a very different way
The pages of the calendar kept turning away
I have some better words now, but it's too late to say them to you

My dream of all dreams and my hope of all hopes
Is only to tell you and make sure you know
How much I love you and how much I always did

And yes I know you loved me I could see it in your eyes
And it was in your struggle and it was in your mind
And it was in your smile you gave me when I was a kid

Feels like no one understands
And now my only chance
To talk to you is through my prayers
I only wanted to tell you I care

Every night after and every day since
I find myself crying when the memory hits
Sometimes it knocks me down, sometimes I can just put it away

Down in my mind where I don't care to go
The pain of a lesson is letting me know
If you have love in your heart let it show while you can

Yes now I understand
But now my only chance
To talk to you is through my prayers
I only wanted to tell you I care
I only wanted to tell you I care

Down With the Shine

Down with the shine, the perfect shine
That poisons the well and ruins my mind.
Oh, I get took for a ride every time.
Down with the glistening shine.

It's in with the new, and it's out with the old
Out goes the warm, and in comes the cold
It's the most predictable story told
in with the young, out with the old

Down with the Shine, the perfect shine
That poisons the well and ruins my mind
I get took for a ride every time
Down with the glistening shine

It's a real bad time to bring up the truth
Though we searched we found no
Fountain of youth
not in spain , nowhere near anywhere
close to here

There's nothing good because nothing lasts
And all that comes here, it comes here to pass
I would voice my pain but the change wouldn't last
All that comes, it comes here to pass

Down with the shine, the perfect shine
That poisons the well and ruins my mind
I get took for a ride every time
Down with the glistening shine

I get took for a ride every time
Down with the glistening shine

A Father's First Spring

Sweetest surrender of winter
She put up her flag, it is waving
The thunder of summer is rumbling in

And I haven't seen you in days
And my, how that feeling has changed
Oh, I have been homesick for you since we met
I have been homesick for you

I've got to take to the sky
And I'll tell you what that means for you and I
If I die it's for you
If I die it's for you

I never lived 'til I lived in your light
And my heart never beat like it does at the sight
Of you baby blue, God blessed your life
I do not live 'less I live in your light
I do not live 'less I live in your light

The realest thing I ever felt
Was the blood on the floor and the love in your yell
I was a child before
The day that I met Eleanor

Kiss of the wind in the hills
The clearness of morning, the late evening thrill
Blurry and gray like the roar
The wheels on the highway, above them I soar
When I'm in the sweet daughter's eyes
My heart is now ruined for the rest of all time
There's no part of it left to give
There's no part of it left to give

I never lived 'til I lived in your light
And my heart never beat like it does at the sight
Of you baby blue, God blessed your life
I do not live 'less I live in your light
I do not live 'less I live in your light
I do not live

Geraldine

I come from a place
Where every name
And every place

Seem so familiar

In came this progress
In her black dress
Look at the mess
She is a killer

Much like you and I
And every case that's made
There has to be a traitor

It's me this time
And I'm trading fun for right
Will I regret the notion later?

Geraldine's the name that comes to mind
When I go back to reminiscing
Abilene's a woman for my childhood
I spent the evenings kissing

I'm a fool for treating her alive
And loving something cold and rocky
The homophobic gentlemen
They'll barricade but their efforts couldn't stop me

In came this progress
In her black dress
Look at the mess
She is a killer

In came this progress
In her black dress
Look at the mess
She is a killer

In came this progress
In her black dress
Look at the mess
She is a killer

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh

Paul Newman vs. The Demons

You may have to drag me away from my demons
Kicking and screaming
It's been so long now, I've been with them
Don't know where they stop and I begin

We draw a line in the sand
Will you cross it? Oh, will you die for this?
Got nothing to tell you that you don't
Through your sadness below, already know

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Live through the past again
How many times must I live through the past again?
No more

Truth beyond truth and by our design
It is very fine like Newman's wine
Oh, to be like him and walk a path
To lend a hand, do something worth a damn

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Live through the past again
How many times must I live through the past again?
No more, wait

You may have to drag me away from my demons
Kicking and screaming

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Live through the past again
How many times must I live through the past again?
No more, wait

Life

One comes of it, love it, love it
Let go of it, love comes from it
We're not of this world for long

Faith and promise, keep me honest
When starvation falls upon us
Daylight told me he would be

Gone with cold words spoke among hers
Wretched is the tongue of their world
We're not of that world at all
We will never be

Wouldn't it be fine to stand behind
The words we say in the best of times
Oh, and you and I know all too well
About the hell and paradise right here on earth

Keep it, use it, build it, move it
Claims can't touch how time will prove it
Watch us fly as loud as we can
Let her heartbeat change what I am now

Wouldn't it be fine to stand behind
The words we say in the best of times
Oh, and you and I know all too well
About the hell and paradise right here on earth

Standing with You

Well it's been a pretty rough couple of years
But I think things will change for us
And I always will put you before me
Unless of course it's dangerous

Standing with you, I'm standing with you,
I might miss the rhythm but I'm catching the tune
And that's something, for me
Yeah that's something for me

Well I told you I won't make the same mistake again
But you know I probably will
And so many nights go by like a flash
From a camera without any film
But we don't need to remember
Every single moment we've had
And I don't need understanding
For every single moment I've had

As long as I'm
Standing with you, standing with you
I might miss the rhythm but I'm catching the tune
And that's something, for me
Yeah that's something for me

And I'll be walking with you, and walking with you
I might miss the meaning but I'm catching the truth
And that's pretty good for me
Yeah that's pretty good for me

Well it's been a pretty rough couple of years
But I think things will change for us
Yeah it's been a pretty rough couple of years
But I think things will change for us

Die Then Grow

Can you say your name to me, put mine after yours?
Can we build a house of glass without windows or doors?
Will you learn to love yourself the way I know you should?
Will we find the courage there to call our friendship good?
Call it good, call it good

The world is closing in on me, I think it's time I go
And with your sad young eyes you've taught me things I didn't know
And my heart broke down to powder there and I wish I'd let it show
And I listened as you said to me you'd rather die than grow
Die than grow, die than grow

Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you

So I watched as those who ask for love, demanding some respect
Became the last in line to have what they come to expect
As what nobody taught them that they so rightly deserve
And the hums of their misfortune peaked, the hardest lesson learned
Lesson learned, lesson learned

Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance and beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you

To watch us fall is why they came
And fall we did, to the call of the highway
Don't go home, don't look ahead, don't look behind
Everything we were is dead

Then a well of hope and talent sprang, and I caught a glimpse of light
And I drank from there as the colors rang out loudly from your eyes

Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Don't let romance or beating hearts change what we came to do
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you
Anita, my Anita, I was born to follow you

Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow
Die then grow