1. |
Sometimes
03:28
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Sometimes the wind blows softly, sometimes the wind blows cold
Sometimes the rain washes seeds away, sometimes the rain makes the crops grow
Sometimes a little bit of distance can make everything look clearer
Sometimes you can't get too far, it's staring back at you in the mirror
Sometimes you can be too rich, sometimes you can look too good
Sometimes all that fame and fortune won't make you the things you should
Sometimes flying's too slow, sometimes you walk too fast
One day we're all just children, the next thing, the years have passed
Be careful what you ask for, your wish just might come true
There's time to choose a new path. But time won't come back for you
Sometimes we think we run things, sometimes we lose control
Sometimes the time's just not right, even if you've paid the toll
Sometimes we sit and watch when there's something better we should do
Sometimes watching's wise than all those rushing fools
Be careful what you ask for, your wish just might come true
There's time to choose a new path, but time won't come back you
Somewhere there is a balance, I keep saying that it's true
I'll tell you when I get there, if I get there before you
Sometimes the wind blows softly, sometimes the wind blows cold
Sometimes I think we think too much, worrying just gets you old.
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2. |
Riding the Highline
04:48
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There's a road in Montana they call the Highline
Cuts through the plains like a path to the sun
Saskatchewan is the next stop if you happen to turn north
Range land and cattle and big sky the whole run
My pony and I rode the Highline last year
A flatlander passing through on a quest
I was alone, but not really lonesome
I was taking you with me on the way out west
On the Highline
On the Highline
Like a warrior traveling through country unknown
Riding the Highline
I was back home a few weeks before you
You had been riding too, in another direction
We shared our stories of the places we'd been
On one of those rare moments of our circles' intersection
That night we lay together, me holding you close
My heart was broke open like never before
A picture floated through my mind like a song
Of another road that I'd never traveled before
On the Highline
On the Highline
Like a warrior traveling through country unknown
Riding the Highline
We're all solo travelers, every long road tells me so
Facing lifelong journeys that are up to us alone
Sometimes I want it different,
if we're lucky that comes true
For a little while, for a little while
Sometimes I have this dream when I'm traveling alone
But it's not a white picket fence around a happy home
It's a lonely road not far from Canada
That just for a little way together we'd roam
On the Highline
On the Highline
Like two warriors traveling through country unknown
Riding the Highline
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3. |
Follow Tail Lights
04:24
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I am standing beside a dirt road
Not far from where I once lived
Looking out over the farmlands
I remembered when I was a kid
There are some of the same trees and houses
Some of the neighbors that I used to know
But not everything is the same here
There's a farm that's no longer plowed
There's five or six brand new houses
Corn and wheat are no longer allowed
There's an industrial park up the road some
And the barns that I played in are gone
Maybe you can't hold back progress
The only thing constant is change
And over there is a bridge 'cross the freeway
I used to go there late at night
And I'd watch the tail lights go somewhere
Thinking someday I'd take off in flight
Maybe just into the city
Or maybe thousands of miles away
I would dream of my day on that freeway
Follow tail lights down roads yet to come
Nobody knows where they lead us
The roads that we mapped long ago
You never know what you will find there
Even if you have been there before
Now I'm standing beside this dirt road
But it's no road that I've seen here before
Then I'm looking through eyes that have grown some
I guess this isn't my home anymore
There are clues to what's in my memory
Only signs of what's left in my past
In a while I'll be back on that freeway
Follow tail lights down roads yet to come
I am standing beside a dirt road
Not far from where I once lived
Looking out over the farm land
I remember when I was a kid
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4. |
'67
04:10
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We spent the night with my cousins in Birmingham
One hot July years ago
House full of kids, all fun and excitement
But something lingered in the air
Back at our house, the tanks were rolling
Down the streets toward the billowing smoke
It was '67, the city was burning
We slept where we thought we'd be safe
My dad worked nights, but he'd come home early
'Cause the curfew was at 8
Mom wasn't good at hiding her worries
Till she saw the car pull up in front
My sister and I couldn't quite understand it
But we knew that a riot was bad
It was '67 and the people were fighting
We just wanted to stay out of the way
Maybe it just had to happen
The lid just had to come off
The combination of heat and frustration
Injustice mixed up with fear
People could not pretend any more
When the fires lit up the sky
Too many gunshots, bricks through store windows
The headlines screaming the score
It went up with a bang, and faded more slowly
Finally the troops all left town
People started to put things back together
Even now some streets still aren't the same
Thirty years later it looks like it's better
At least we don't fight in the street
But ask folks living near old 12th and Myrtle
Have we really come far enough
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5. |
Halfway Across Iowa
04:40
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Halfway across Iowa I missed you for the first time
Miles and miles of corn fields, without any trees to climb
The only thing I wanted was to hear a friendly voice
But a farm show on the radio was my only choice
And overnight in Omaha, a cafe after after dark
Then a bed and a TV set in a motel by the park
I played my songs to an empty room, chords bouncing off the wall
Then I watched Jay Leno, you know he never heard at all
About how it felt to miss you though I said I didn't care
And how you fill a hole in me that I didn't know was there
I thought that I could leave you, and though that may be true
I will never leave a place that I could miss as much as you
And rolling into Denver underneath the open sky
The Rockies building in the west, truckers roaring by
I pointed at an eagle, said "Hey would you look at that"
As if you were sitting there seeing what I pointed at
Halfway across Iowa I missed you for the first time
I'll be in California sometime Friday after nine
I guess I'll send a postcard from the next town I pass through
Though I know a card can't say what I need to say to you
(repeat 3rd verse)
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6. |
There's Gotta Be a Road
03:34
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I hate waking up in the morning
And that moment that I realize
That the place I'm on my way to
Pays the bills but it won't feed my soul
I hate feeling the feeling I get
When it's like my friends fence me in
But right now I'd like to have the chance
To have a happy reunion after a long time apart
There's gotta be a road
There's gotta be a horizon
There's gotta be a way to get to
Someplace that I'm not at right now
Sometimes I think of my father
43 years in the same factory
He died just 30 miles from where he was born
I wonder if he ever felt like me
There's gotta be a road
There's gotta be a horizon
There's gotta be a way to get to
Someplace where I'm not at right now
There's gotta be more than pictures
There's gotta be more than stories
There's gotta be more than unfilled longings
There's gotta be, there's just gotta be
There's too many nights spent sleepless
And I think that a bottle would do me right
But I open the road map and follow the lines
My dreams come and they lead me away
There's gotta be a road
There's gotta be a horizon
There's gotta be a way to get to
Someplace where I'm not at right now
There's gotta be a road
There's gotta be a horizon
There's gotta be, there's just gotta be
Someplace where I'm not at right now
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7. |
Back in My Mind Again
05:46
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Whenever I get lonely, I pick up my guitar
And I play myself a song or two
To play some of the blues away, and sometimes it don't take long
To get my feelings right, and start my day anew
It doesn't happen often, and most of the time
Just the strings singing eases all the pain
But when I sing this song, my defense tumbles down
It makes me think of things I'll never have again
Chorus:
And I know that some things in life will change
And I know I'll never see you again
But I know you wouldn't mind if I sang just one more line
To bring you back in my mind again
I can still remember late nights sitting long
While I played every song I knew for you
I know I'd miss a beat and I know my voice would crack
Every time I sang a line that said I love you
Well I still stay up late playing every night
As though I had an audience to hear
I'll still miss those beats and my voice still may not hold
But the message still comes out loud and clear
(CHORUS)
Whenever I get lonely, I pick up my guitar
And I play myself a song or two
To play some of the blues away, and sometimes it don't take long
To get my feelings right, and start my day anew
But you know, I miss you so much, and everything you did
Makes me long for the way things used to be
But some things haven't changed, for wherever you have gone
I know you're sitting there listening to me
(CHORUS)
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8. |
Song of Devotion
03:08
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Some people think I'm as free as you please
Running around, singing all the day through
When they ask me about it, they act so surprised
When I say it's a song of devotion to you
I've been to the mountains, I've been to the ocean
I've been to the prairie, I've been on the town
I've been everywhere that I possibly wanted
I want to go back with you next time around
I can't remember not knowing the tune
I can't remember the words being wrong
If they say that I'm lonely they're telling a lie
'Cause you're with me wherever I'm singing this song
I've been to Chicago, I've been to Poughkeepsie
I've been to the Smokies and Long Island Sound
I've been everywhere but something's been missing
I want to go back with you next time around
And when I get tired, start drifting away
You are the anchor I tie myself to
And in the morning, I'll wake up again
I'll be singing this song of devotion to you
I've been to the mountains, I've been to the ocean
I've been to the prairie, I've been to the towns
I've been everywhere that I possibly wanted
I want to go back with you next time around
I've been to Chicago, I've been to Poughkeepsie
I've been to the Smokies and I've been underground
I've been everywhere but something's been missing
I want to go back with you next time around
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9. |
Lone Wolf
06:14
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Don't take a look at your face in the mirror
Don't listen to your voice as you sing in the night
There's something more than restless crept into your bones
It's the spirit of the lone wolf in your heart
You'll find him on the highway driving in the night
Maybe at a truck stop with a coffee by himself
In a room full of people he's off in the woods
'Cause he's a lone wolf, a lone wolf just the same
REFRAIN:
There's a lone wolf on the loose tonight
Running wild down the trail tonight
He might slow down, he might stay for a while
But you won't see him come the morning light
Maybe it's the sound of his wheels that makes him run
He's got wings on his feet, and they don't ever tire
He travels light so the wind carries him along
Far away from the things that tie you and me down
He sits at night underneath the stars
Howling at the full moon as it rises high
Maybe there's some comfort singing in the night
'Cause you can't get him to take it from anywhere else
(REFRAIN)
Yet sometimes the wind blows and the nights get cold
And when he slows down, he can almost hear
It's a voice with a song that's almost enticing
But he's a lone wolf, a lone wolf just the same
And even if he cries himself to sleep
You know those tears will be dry when the sun rises
Just as long as he doesn't see his face in the mirror
He won't see the animal that he's become
(REFRAIN)
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10. |
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I never wanted to make the big statement
I never needed to show that I cared
I only wanted not to hurt anybody
I thought that would be enough
I felt safer as part of the background
Didn't need to be a "point of light"
I saw it all go down on the Ten O'Clock News
But I didn't know just what I could do
Then I saw one more homeless man sleeping in a doorway
One more big big man strike his wife down
One more gay child dead because of hatred
Another day is dawning, not enough hope to go round
Don't want to read about another drive-by shooting
Don't want to hear about another man's war
Don't want to listen to some Neo-Nazi's answers
Sitting on his pile of guns
See the Congressmen say we don't have to
And the governor says we don't need to
Too many people they can't see what's around them
Someone had better open up our eyes
To see one more child with a gun in the classroom
One more neighborhood with its houses falling down
One more dealer stealing our kids' future
Another day is dawning, not enough hope to go round
I'm not saying I've got all the answers
Isn't one of us gonna fix it all at once
But I know now that I need to do something
And the clock is running for us all
So I guess that this is my big statement
You know I never thought I'd show that I cared
I only wanted not to hurt anybody
Now I know that's just not enough
When there's one more homeless man sleeping in a doorway
One more big big man striking his wife down
One more gay child dead because of hatred
Another day is dawning, not enough hope to go round
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11. |
Hawks
04:28
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Circling high above the field
The hawks used to watch me watch them fly
The closest I could ever get
Was wishing I could join them in the sky
My hopes and dreams they flew then too
Borne aloft on strong brown wings
I didn't know that they could fall
Lay on the ground like broken things
But hawks don't know from hopes and dreams
Flying's just a thing they have to do
But maybe somewhere in the air
They find a little joy there too
We have been known to try to fly
Spread our wings we just cut loose
The tether's tight and stops us short
We fall and flutter back to roost
Back on the ground we wonder why
Blame the sky because it called
Yearn for keys to set us free
And curse the hawks when they don't fall
But hawks don't know from hopes and dreams
Flying's just a thing they have to do
But maybe somewhere in the air
They find a little joy there too
You can't catch a rabbit in a tree
A hungry hawk just has to fly
Take the air and build up speed
And when the chance comes you have to try
I don't fly much anymore
My dreams they stay close to the ground
But if there's joy I'll find it somewhere
And if I happen to be airborne
I won't look down
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12. |
All I Ever Wanted
03:58
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The road goes by the old house, the lake's still clean and blue
Everything that I remember is like it was still new
The trees have grown a little
The swing still hangs beneath the big one
And up there on the front porch I'm still sitting there with you
Though it's been so many days, so many miles away
Something here just pulls me back like I belong to yesterday
And after all the plans and dreams I had
And all the wrong turns down the hard roads
All I ever wanted was to never go away
Sometimes all the things you have are less than what you lack
And sometimes you have to burn your eyes before your sight comes back
But I didn't know, so I had to leave
Find all the things I thought were out there
When all I ever wanted was at the start of my own track
Maybe all the tears I cried only served to break the ice
Though I had to learn the hard way
I won't have to learn it twice
I'm going back to find the place I still see in my mind
Then I'll try to put together all the pieces I can find
Maybe then I'll show you
What I should have shown you all along
All I ever wanted was to be right by your side
And after all the plans and dreams I had
And all the wrong turns now I know
All I ever wanted was to be right by your side
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Charlie Monterey Warren, Michigan
Singer/songwriter and guitarist from metro Detroit, Michigan. Generally mellow sort of folkish songs, relatively minimal arrangements.
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