Own Way
There’s a hard world waiting for ya, kid
Full of eight billion strangers
Everyone feels the danger
That they will soon be leaving it
But there’s a big heart beating out there
Among the screens and the shameless
Avoid the righteous and blameless
And don’t let them in your head
The Hardest part
Is doing what you’re told
I know you’re gonna your own way home
I let a hole grow under my skin
Where I let every word in
And it stings like needles and pins
And cuts me to the bone
Don’t live life shaking your fists
With everything you came with
Let your mercy and your patience
be the gift you give
Running from the Wild
Digging through rubble. Choking on smoke
Putting the pieces back together on my own
I’m running on empty; going for broke
Giving it all for the things I’ve wanted most
I’m taming the lions, charming the snakes
Fighting the bull everyday
with my heart as the cape
Praying to angels, plotting the stars
Wishing the planets to align for my cause
I’ve spent my time
Running from the wild
The wild within
I’ve spent my life
leaving me behind
What would I find?
Taking the backroads, talking to god
Looking for divine intervention
in the form of a song
I’m breaking out windows to get some relief
But I come out empty handed and in disbelief
Calling out demons and shaking up ghosts
Taking my skeletons out
of the closet to have a toast
People Watching
The hard part was over,
he’d made it all the way through alive
Nobody had seen him like that before
Gliding all the way across the country side
It was two minutes ‘till midnight,
there was a cool breeze in the air,
a cloud of steam left his mouth left his mouth
as he exhaled deeply and vanished into the air.
He looked about the skyline
with an admiring stare,
as if all the gods he’d ever read about
were gathered there to see how he would fair
and they’d say,
Ooooh look at him go!
He’s got the world beneath his feet.
He’s letting everybody know.
Ooooh look at him go!
He’s got us wrapped around his finger.
He’s got us humming every note.
As he rose in front of millions,
he imagined to himself.
That he was talking to them
and they were listening to him,
and this is what he said,
you know my heart’s beating, hand’s feeling,
brain’s reeling experiencing
different levels of things
can’t be explained that easily.
And the earth is spinning
one thousand forty miles an hour and
we can’t even feel it.
And that doesn’t seem to
affect the things we do every day,
and that makes me say,
Ooooh look at him go!
He’s got the world beneath his feet.
He’s letting everybody know.
Ooooh look at him go!
He’s got us wrapped around his finger.
He’s got us humming every note.
Levee’s
You heard a voice that was calling
saying that a storm was going to come
that the water level would be rising
and there wouldn’t be any time to run
you think about all the water crashing
into the levees from the sea
you're scared to death
of what that could mean
you’re one of life's finer mysteries
You go on down to fix your levee
you put up all your bags of sand
all the while the water keeps pouring out
and you can’t fill the cracks with your hands
the rain keep falling down
and no-one stops
but to see
the lonely man up against his levee
you’re one of life’s finer mysteries
You think about the life that you’ve led
wonder if those cracks
have always been seen
you nail one last board up to your levy
and pray it doesn’t burst at the seams
you’re one of life's finer mysteries
Easy
You can measure a man
By how he treats his enemies
And if there aren’t any enemies around
Maybe something is wrong
And if the truth is is standing
Naked right in front of him
And he chooses to ignore it
How can he go on?
Before the earth was flat
We thought it was a mystery
And the humans before that
Thought the sun was god
And many men have been put to death
For their philosophies
And if they’d never spoken a word
Where would we be now?
So if we hold tight
And we make it through the night
I hope the next part of life
Is going to be easy
When a man spoke “I have a dream”
He spoke into the centuries
Inviting all of human kind
To see themselves as one
Insisting peace and love
The measure of what makes a man
And before we even knew it he was shot down
I’ve heard it in the dark
And I’ve seen it in the light
Every story has a person (and)
Every person has a mind
Summer Day
To the rails. I’m speeding faster as I go
Quarter-mile
I was on fire before I ever saw the smoke
Awake the daze
I’m stuck reeling from the initial blow
Calling out. Can you hear me.
Will they even know I’m here
In the end they asked me if I knew her name
If I told them would I ever feel the same
That every part of me regrets that summer day
Nobody wants to be the one to blame
Eager words, they keep falling from my mouth
Willing ears, never felt better from the start
Chase my blame.
Would you have noticed
had you not been told
Call my bluff. Watch me stumble
Stumble as I lose control
Lights a flash.
Below my heels time was all that froze
Catch my breath
I can see how it all unfolds
Slow Down
All that I’ve ever wanted
Was a mind that was free
I’m telling you all my stories
And I’ll bleed it out clean
If our past is our future and I certainly believe
If one single thing would be different I swear
You wouldn’t be part of me
Settle down, ease back into it
The best part of living is
knowing that you’re loved
Slow down, fall back into it
The best part of living is
knowing that you’re loved
Time passes through us
Like an ancient stream
Millions of years are connecting our souls
Right across at the seam
Make no mistake that you’re in this
Make no mistake that this is real
Make no mistake
There is something out there
That is causing us all to feel
Silent Rings
Did we see it in the cards
Were we reading
every time they flipped them over
Did we see it in the stars
And travel every place that they were pointing
Did we hear the voices talk
And tell us every thing that we were thinking
Did we use them at all
Or did we have everything that we needed
And softly as the snow falls
And silent as rings on the water
We stood there in each others arms
Hoping our love would be honest
Let it go. Give up the ghost.
If it’s only for a moment
Then at least we have a moment
The walk was tough
Sometimes I didn’t think that we would make it
Ground underfoot was soft
With each step it felt like we were sinking
Would we brace for the fall
Or would it be too much to imagine
Into the darkness beyond
The last of ourselves we’d abandon
And softly as the snow falls
And silent as rings on the water
We stood there in each others arms
Hoping our love would be honest
Just a Dream
We were the last generation
to work at the mall
Before the internet came
and closed the doors down
Disinfranchised by everything we saw
The great recount of Bush and Gore
Born again christians
evangelize our coffee shops
While Tony Williams Emergency
played out of the van in the parking lot
Everything seemed to move so slow
The morning and the night
became the same thing
We’ve got a dream
American kids
caught in their American in-between
Like flashes of light
On a magic summer night
It was just a dream
Playing it cool in front of this girl
I can’t stop thinking of
But I’m too afraid to tell her
because I know were just friends
We’re passing around wine and cigarettes
on a strangers roof top
While somebody plays
Bob Dylan songs on an old guitar
No one really knows what’s next
but we know we’ve got to get out
Move to new cities and new streets
so we can find our freedoms
Times are changing if only we could
change if only we could change
We’ve got a dream
American kids
caught in their American in-between
Like flashes of light
On a magic summer night
It was just a dream
So how do you know
that you’ll ever see my face again
Tell me how do you try and pretend
That our story might have an end
What makes you believe
that this is more than
Just a dream
Another Man’s Blues
I want to be the energy
from the storm rolling over the city tonight
I want to be the fire
burning up the trees on the mountain side
I want to be the smoke and the mirrors
that will help you believe the lies
I want to burn so bright
that you can warm your hands up by the light
Boom Boom Boom
that’s another man’s blues I’m telling you
I want to fall into the Earth
and help something beautiful grow
I want to be the pressure at the depths
of the ocean
that are going to keep you from it’s floor
I want to be all the answers
that will help you come out on top
I want to love until it burns
until it hurts
or until this feeling stops
Boom Boom Boom
that’s another man’s blues I’m telling you
Prodigal Son
Talking with our tongues untied
Walking next to you at night
Illuminating what we find
From taking the winding road
Our journeys keep our hearts intwined
Like planets in their orbit lines
Revolve around the sun we find
We make it around again
Prodigal Son, Why do you hide
Giving your life in order to find
That all of our past Can be like a lie
Fortunate one
Prodigal Son, Tested by time
They were amazed to see you alive
Coming back home To arms open wide
Prodigal Son
Won’t you join us inside
Where energy and starts collide
And makeup what we are inside
Discovering a truth from time
It feels like coming home
Chaos and the calm align
Where saints and thieves will stand beside
Each other at the great divide
Of walking each other home
Take it up with your Ghost
it’ll follow you around
Let your fears break you out
You were born to give them hell
My love will never change, my love.
Hold On Sam
I submit the evidence to the courts
that I’m even showing up at all
Would they let me walk
if they knew just what they saw
I know that all the lawyers and judges
opinions could never amount
To anything I’ve ever had to prove to myself
Hold on Sam you can tell a lot about a man
By how long he holds his smile after you leave
Hold on Sam
this whole damn place is so full of smoke
But everybody’s got to see
the fire before they leave
The past, present, and future
are never ones to hesitate
That unholy trinity holds the blueprints
of our life from birth to fate
The easier it gets
means the harder it was
and the more you believe
The comforts we’re holding close
are as useful as a rosary
Hold on Sam you can tell a lot about a man
By how long he holds his smile after you leave
Hold on Sam
this whole damn place is so full of smoke
But everybody’s got to see the fire
before they leave