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1. CHROME EAGLE BUS
Danny‘s travelling cross the States
in a chrome Eagle bus
It’s seen better days, then so have most of us
Ten years on the road, finally it’s time
To come into this country, put his music on the line
Danny’s looking at a road sign,
Don’t Mess With Texas
Straight off the plane, first gig’s in Dallas
Keep Austin Weird, playing at Antone’s -
Home of the Blues - Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan
Danny’s dreamed of making it in the USA
It’s a long shot he knows, maybe just a song away
And if it doesn’t happen, they don’t become stars
He’ll carry on playing in the clubs and the bars
Danny’s parked in Nashville
next to Neil Young’s bus
With a ZUMA licence plate
creating quite a fuss
Tootsies Lounge, Hatch Show Print,
Ernest Tubb’s Record Store
Then off to play The Slow Bar,
no time for any more
Danny’s at their driver’s home in South Carolina Jambalaya and catfish with cans of Shiner
Came through the mountains,
Smokies, Appalachians
Now they’re on their way
to Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Danny’s singing ‘Hearts of Stone’
at Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey
A nod to Bruce and Southside
onstage at The Stone Pony
Then he walks in Springsteen’s footsteps
at Asbury Park
Madame Marie’s Fortune Telling Booth
boarded up and dark
Danny’s playing New York’s Mercury Lounge
next to Katz’s Deli
Where the fake orgasm scene was filmed
When Harry Met Sally
Hot pastrami on rye
Dr. Brown’s Cherry Cola
The Replacements singing ‘Skyway’
on a jukebox in the corner
Danny’s stuck outside Chicago,
taking in the view
It’s called the Windy City
it’s just a tyre that blew
Played The Empty Bottle,
with house dog and cat
Then straight on through Nebraska,
nothing else but flat
Danny’s at a ballgame,
the Colorado Rockies
Beat the Detroit Tigers,
it only cost $4
Shows at The Larimar Lounge.
Dean Moriarty
Spent some time on that street,
it was one long party
Danny’s at a truck stop,
in the Utah desert
Heading for L. A.,
radio show, instore concert
Played that night with Minibar,
another British band
In a part of town called Silverlake,
on the stage at Spaceland
Danny’s in Haight Ashbury,
head shops and bookstores
It’s their final day,
he wants nothing less than more
The show is at the aptly named
Last Chance Saloon
We’ll leave him on the beach that night
howling at the moon
2. COAL DUST, SOOT & CINDERS
I grew up with locomotives
The memory still remains
Of coal dust, soot and cinders
And my love affair with trains
It was a time of stream trains
Run on tracks of steel
Fed by water, coal and fire
With a power you could feel
In dreams I’m on the footplate
That iron horse, I hold the reins
Now and then I'll blow the whistle
To those who wave at trains
As I make my final journey
When I die, how can I tell
If it’s coal dust, soot and cinders
Am I in heaven or in hell
I grew up with locomotives
The memory still remains
Of coal dust, soot and cinders
In that golden age of trains
It was coal dust, soot and cinders
And my love affair with trains
3. WAYLON & HANK
He came back from L.A.
With the devil to pay
Hitched a ride with a country musician
Who’d gas up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
In a Greyhound depot
Ordered coffee to go
From a waitress, defeat in her eyes
He asked her, “What gives In a place like this?”
She said, “Small talk, bullshit and lies.”
A dim corner booth
Three chords and the truth
Rain fell, the neon sign glistened
Fed the jukebox and drank
It was Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
The Santa Fe track
Stretched way out and back
Like the track, was he coming or going?
Dawn’s light filled the sky
Freight trains rumbled by
His future there was no way of knowing
As it was on that day
He came back from L.A.
Hitched a ride with a country musician
Who gassed up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
Who gassed up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
4. ROCK CITY BARNS
I go by the name Clark Byers
I’ve lived eighty years for starters
In ‘36 my boss Fred Maxwell
He took me to meet Garnet Carter
Who hired me to tell the farmers
I would paint their roofs for free
If he could put up this message
Just three words, See Rock City
I started out with one helper
Then I got it up to two
We never did miss a lick
Everybody had somethin’ to do
These boys, I had ‘em trained
We was hungry, and in a hurry
Painted barns in nineteen states
Travelin’ around the country
They’re fading now, just like me
But look hard enough and you will see
On the roofs of barns, See Rock City
And this shall be my legacy
On the roofs of barns, See Rock City
And this shall be my legacy
I did it all freehand, y’know
That’s the reason I’d do ‘em so fast
It all was done with a four inch brush
I never measured nothin’ off
We’d stretch lines across the roof
With nails and pieces of string
Black out the whole of the roof
Come back and put white letters in
In ‘47 I built the house
Where I raised my family
And painted up there on the roof
You guessed it, See Rock City
On the Tennessee/Kentucky line
One time out of paint and money
I wrote Mr. Carter a postcard
Going home to see my honey
CHORUS
I had to quit in ‘68
Paintin’ a billboard in Tennesse
A power line had tore loose
Seven thousand volts went through me
It was one of God’s miracles
I didn’t die on the spot right there
I was in hospital a while
Couldn’t do anything for a year
There’s one more thing I should tell you
If you want to see Rock City
It’s up there on Lookout Mountain
In Chattanooga, Tennessee
CHORUS
5. BIG SKY
Out on the highway
Keeping my eyes on
Big sky
Distant horizon
When I came to Texas
Roxy took me west
Unforgiving landscape
He knew and loved best
Eighty years before
If you can imagine
His Grandma arrived
In a covered wagon
Sittting on her front porch
Had some tales to tell
From a time way back
She still remembered well
CHORUS x 2
Rosie and Janey said
Come to South Dakota
We’ve got a spare room
You can make up the quota
Dinosaurs in Hot Springs
Buffalo back again
Harleys in Sturgis
Wild horses in the rain
I left before winter
When an icy hand
Takes an iron grip
All across the land
CHORUS x 2
Alberta to Hamilton
Across the Great Divide
First time in Montana
Thanks, Ian, for the ride
When the cutting was over
Drove down to the plains
Charlie Russell country
What of it remains
There in his paintings
Seen through his eye
Brush strokes on canvas
This land of big sky
CHORUS x 2
6. CHALK ON A LAMP POST
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
We’d play football before assembley
A scrubby piece of ground to us it was Wembley
Now there’s no sign of my old school
Where I learned to swim in an open air pool
Down by the river a little way back
Looking for our cycle speedway track
Now it’s apartments, 4x4's and a Jag
Where we once took that chequered flag
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
Summer nights we’d play street cricket
Chalk on a lamp post for a wicket
One big hit could break some glass
Better run fast or they’ll tan your arse
Cowboys and Indians, rough and tumble
The alley where I had my first fumble
With whatshername, I wish I could remember
There were Christmas lights, must have been December
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
All gone now, so far as I can see
Perhaps they were slums, they were homes to me
For me and my friends those were the best of times
What they’ve done now seems the worst of crimes
I have to confess it seems strange to me
I scarcely recognise any thing I see
They say it’s progress, that’s what I’m told
What it tells me is I’m getting old
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
Danny‘s travelling cross the States
in a chrome Eagle bus
It’s seen better days, then so have most of us
Ten years on the road, finally it’s time
To come into this country, put his music on the line
Danny’s looking at a road sign,
Don’t Mess With Texas
Straight off the plane, first gig’s in Dallas
Keep Austin Weird, playing at Antone’s -
Home of the Blues - Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan
Danny’s dreamed of making it in the USA
It’s a long shot he knows, maybe just a song away
And if it doesn’t happen, they don’t become stars
He’ll carry on playing in the clubs and the bars
Danny’s parked in Nashville
next to Neil Young’s bus
With a ZUMA licence plate
creating quite a fuss
Tootsies Lounge, Hatch Show Print,
Ernest Tubb’s Record Store
Then off to play The Slow Bar,
no time for any more
Danny’s at their driver’s home in South Carolina Jambalaya and catfish with cans of Shiner
Came through the mountains,
Smokies, Appalachians
Now they’re on their way
to Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Danny’s singing ‘Hearts of Stone’
at Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey
A nod to Bruce and Southside
onstage at The Stone Pony
Then he walks in Springsteen’s footsteps
at Asbury Park
Madame Marie’s Fortune Telling Booth
boarded up and dark
Danny’s playing New York’s Mercury Lounge
next to Katz’s Deli
Where the fake orgasm scene was filmed
When Harry Met Sally
Hot pastrami on rye
Dr. Brown’s Cherry Cola
The Replacements singing ‘Skyway’
on a jukebox in the corner
Danny’s stuck outside Chicago,
taking in the view
It’s called the Windy City
it’s just a tyre that blew
Played The Empty Bottle,
with house dog and cat
Then straight on through Nebraska,
nothing else but flat
Danny’s at a ballgame,
the Colorado Rockies
Beat the Detroit Tigers,
it only cost $4
Shows at The Larimar Lounge.
Dean Moriarty
Spent some time on that street,
it was one long party
Danny’s at a truck stop,
in the Utah desert
Heading for L. A.,
radio show, instore concert
Played that night with Minibar,
another British band
In a part of town called Silverlake,
on the stage at Spaceland
Danny’s in Haight Ashbury,
head shops and bookstores
It’s their final day,
he wants nothing less than more
The show is at the aptly named
Last Chance Saloon
We’ll leave him on the beach that night
howling at the moon
2. COAL DUST, SOOT & CINDERS
I grew up with locomotives
The memory still remains
Of coal dust, soot and cinders
And my love affair with trains
It was a time of stream trains
Run on tracks of steel
Fed by water, coal and fire
With a power you could feel
In dreams I’m on the footplate
That iron horse, I hold the reins
Now and then I'll blow the whistle
To those who wave at trains
As I make my final journey
When I die, how can I tell
If it’s coal dust, soot and cinders
Am I in heaven or in hell
I grew up with locomotives
The memory still remains
Of coal dust, soot and cinders
In that golden age of trains
It was coal dust, soot and cinders
And my love affair with trains
3. WAYLON & HANK
He came back from L.A.
With the devil to pay
Hitched a ride with a country musician
Who’d gas up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
In a Greyhound depot
Ordered coffee to go
From a waitress, defeat in her eyes
He asked her, “What gives In a place like this?”
She said, “Small talk, bullshit and lies.”
A dim corner booth
Three chords and the truth
Rain fell, the neon sign glistened
Fed the jukebox and drank
It was Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
The Santa Fe track
Stretched way out and back
Like the track, was he coming or going?
Dawn’s light filled the sky
Freight trains rumbled by
His future there was no way of knowing
As it was on that day
He came back from L.A.
Hitched a ride with a country musician
Who gassed up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
Who gassed up his tank
Singing Waylon and Hank
For any damn fool who would listen
4. ROCK CITY BARNS
I go by the name Clark Byers
I’ve lived eighty years for starters
In ‘36 my boss Fred Maxwell
He took me to meet Garnet Carter
Who hired me to tell the farmers
I would paint their roofs for free
If he could put up this message
Just three words, See Rock City
I started out with one helper
Then I got it up to two
We never did miss a lick
Everybody had somethin’ to do
These boys, I had ‘em trained
We was hungry, and in a hurry
Painted barns in nineteen states
Travelin’ around the country
They’re fading now, just like me
But look hard enough and you will see
On the roofs of barns, See Rock City
And this shall be my legacy
On the roofs of barns, See Rock City
And this shall be my legacy
I did it all freehand, y’know
That’s the reason I’d do ‘em so fast
It all was done with a four inch brush
I never measured nothin’ off
We’d stretch lines across the roof
With nails and pieces of string
Black out the whole of the roof
Come back and put white letters in
In ‘47 I built the house
Where I raised my family
And painted up there on the roof
You guessed it, See Rock City
On the Tennessee/Kentucky line
One time out of paint and money
I wrote Mr. Carter a postcard
Going home to see my honey
CHORUS
I had to quit in ‘68
Paintin’ a billboard in Tennesse
A power line had tore loose
Seven thousand volts went through me
It was one of God’s miracles
I didn’t die on the spot right there
I was in hospital a while
Couldn’t do anything for a year
There’s one more thing I should tell you
If you want to see Rock City
It’s up there on Lookout Mountain
In Chattanooga, Tennessee
CHORUS
5. BIG SKY
Out on the highway
Keeping my eyes on
Big sky
Distant horizon
When I came to Texas
Roxy took me west
Unforgiving landscape
He knew and loved best
Eighty years before
If you can imagine
His Grandma arrived
In a covered wagon
Sittting on her front porch
Had some tales to tell
From a time way back
She still remembered well
CHORUS x 2
Rosie and Janey said
Come to South Dakota
We’ve got a spare room
You can make up the quota
Dinosaurs in Hot Springs
Buffalo back again
Harleys in Sturgis
Wild horses in the rain
I left before winter
When an icy hand
Takes an iron grip
All across the land
CHORUS x 2
Alberta to Hamilton
Across the Great Divide
First time in Montana
Thanks, Ian, for the ride
When the cutting was over
Drove down to the plains
Charlie Russell country
What of it remains
There in his paintings
Seen through his eye
Brush strokes on canvas
This land of big sky
CHORUS x 2
6. CHALK ON A LAMP POST
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
We’d play football before assembley
A scrubby piece of ground to us it was Wembley
Now there’s no sign of my old school
Where I learned to swim in an open air pool
Down by the river a little way back
Looking for our cycle speedway track
Now it’s apartments, 4x4's and a Jag
Where we once took that chequered flag
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
Summer nights we’d play street cricket
Chalk on a lamp post for a wicket
One big hit could break some glass
Better run fast or they’ll tan your arse
Cowboys and Indians, rough and tumble
The alley where I had my first fumble
With whatshername, I wish I could remember
There were Christmas lights, must have been December
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
All gone now, so far as I can see
Perhaps they were slums, they were homes to me
For me and my friends those were the best of times
What they’ve done now seems the worst of crimes
I have to confess it seems strange to me
I scarcely recognise any thing I see
They say it’s progress, that’s what I’m told
What it tells me is I’m getting old
Here I am back in my hometown
I’ll be leaving with a permanent frown
Everywhere I look around
My boyhood memories have been torn down
7. BITTERROOT
When I was a boy of just 16
I travelled with my family
Across the Atlantic Ocean
Settled in the Bitterroot Valley
I won’t pretend it was easy
I was different, a figure of fun
Got into a number of scrapes
Some I lost, a few I won
They quit ragging on me
When Jack Bentley took my side
He was from a ranching family
Not a horse he wouldn’t ride
Jack had a sister, Helen
She was easy on the eye
I longed to get closer to her
But I was way too shy
We’d go working for his father
In the heat of that summer’s sun
Swim in the Bitterroot River
When our work was done
One day I left for a soda
And one for Jack to go
Returned to find him missing
Been caught by the undertow
They found him two hours later
Pulled him out with a grappling hook
Laid his poor body on the bank
I could scarcely bear to look
I was the one told Helen
Wonder how I ever did
I grew up and older that day
Still young, no longer a kid
There were tears to flood that river
The day they buried Jack
But I was too numb to shed them
And tears wouldn’t bring him back
Round about ten months later
I took Helen to the senior prom
For the boy that we both loved
We wept in each other’s arms
When I was a boy of just sixteen
The thought of it makes me shiver
I found and lost my one true friend D
rowned in the Bitterrroot River
8. THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE LINE
Written by Tony Lane
9. RORY IS A YOYO BOY
Rory is a yoyo boy
He makes ‘em dance and spin
Faster than the eye can see
He’s the yoyo king
Rory rides a unicycle
Cross the Texas plains
Just when you think he’s been and gone
Here he comes again
Rory is a yoyo boy
He’ll take it for a stroll
Then leap and twist and turn around
It’s yoyo rock ‘n’ roll
Rory is a yoyo boy
He dazzles with his tricks
If you scored him out of five
You’d likely give him six
Rory plays the bass guitar
Laying down the beat
Does the soft shoe shuffle
He’s got happy feet
Rory sells the merchandise
At his daddy’s gigs
Charms the money from your purse
Another of his tricks
Rory is a yoyo boy
He makes ‘em dance and spin
Faster than the eye can see
He’s the yoyo king
Rory plays the guitar
Fingers flying on the string
Steps up to the microphone
Rory yoyo sings
10. MOANIN' OF THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN
Written by Butch Hancock
11. THAT BOX
I opened up that box last night
The one with all our stuff
What a time we had back then
Too much was never enough
A guitar pick used on a westbound train
By an Elvis impersonater
Steve Davis was his his real name
Saw him on TV a few weeks later
A sign outside a lumber yard
On a Ballard, Washington street
“If Elvis doesn’t come forward now
He is in fact deceased”
A KOKE FM bumper sticker
Texas Chili Parlor Bill of Fare
A poster from The Palomino
Emmylou was playing there
A photo of that closed down store
In Rapid City, South Dakota
‘Exotic Lingerie and Ice Cream’
How could it be a failure?
Road maps and boarding cards
A Chicago panoramic view
Here’s Atlanta’s daily paper
‘Covers Dixie like the dew’
When I closed that box last night
The one with all our stuff
There was still a lot to see
Too much was more than enough
So that was then my younger self
Maybe I should write a letter
Reminding me what you used to say
We don’t get older, just better
12. DREAMS KEEP YOU ALIVE
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
Clearly you were nobody’s fool
Gained respect from all at school
When cancer struck, no-one could tell
You toughed it out, fought like hell
But six months later you passed away
Can’t remember a blacker day
The hardest thing I ever said
Was tell the boys that you were dead
Hey, Keith, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
You surely were one helluva sight
Cowboy hat, pulled down tight
Mirror shades, the real deal
Still in need of a good square meal
Roy said you’d make a grand old man
I guess it wasn’t your maker’s plan
Your stomach hurt, you couldn’t walk
Your mind still sharp whenever we’d talk
Hey, Roxy, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
You should have relaxed, let things pass
Single malt in your whisky glass
Charlie Rich on the stereo
Take it easy, take it slow
But you couldn’t, it wasn’t your style
You’d always go that extra mile
Your heart gave out, a final bow
At a younger age than I am now
Hey, Dad, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
13. EVERYTHING ELSE IS WAITING
I was thinking last night
while Wes played his Fender
About the highwire artist, The Great Wallenda
How every day he stepped into the fire
With no safety net he walked on the wire
When asked why he did it
his reply is worth stating
“The wire is life, everything else is waiting.”
Been driving for hours to get to this town
Another small club, got to check the sound
Find a motel, need to shower and eat
Set up the merch, I’m dead on my feet
Up on the stage I go through my paces
Adrenalin kicks in, I hold all the aces
I’m the heavyweight champ, king of this ring
Just acoustic guitar and my songs to sing
No need to ask, here’s what I’m stating
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
This six string addiction is a stange affliction
Some shows are joy, some gigs are the worst
Most times I feel blessed,
sometimes I feel cursed
You ask would I have it any other way?
I’ll give you my answer, here’s what I’m stating
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
I was thinking last night
while Wes played his Fender
About the highwire artist, The Great Wallenda
How every day he stepped into the fire
With no safety net, he walked on the wire
When asked why he did it
his reply is worth stating
“The wire is life, everything else is waiting.”
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
14. ROADWORK IN THE BONEYARD
Lyrics written by Paul Zarzyski
15. ANOTHER SONG
I wrote another song last night
The first one of the year
It’s been a long time coming
How I wish that you were here
In airports and bus stations
Travelling far and near
My heart, it never left you
How I wish that you were here
Like a ship lost on the ocean
I don’t know where to steer
I still need you to guide me
How I wish that you were here
Alone here in the darkness
The hurt won’t disappear
You are my inspiration
How I wish that you were here
When all is said and done
You tried to quell the fear
I was so afraid I’d lose you
How I wish that you were here
CHORUS
If wishes were horses
Then beggars would ride
I’d walk through these streets
With you by my side
I know this can’t happen
It’s perfectly clear
Life goes on without you
Still I wish you were here
CHORUS
I wrote another song last night
One you’ll never hear
Still, I’ll sing it for you
How I wish that you were here
When I was a boy of just 16
I travelled with my family
Across the Atlantic Ocean
Settled in the Bitterroot Valley
I won’t pretend it was easy
I was different, a figure of fun
Got into a number of scrapes
Some I lost, a few I won
They quit ragging on me
When Jack Bentley took my side
He was from a ranching family
Not a horse he wouldn’t ride
Jack had a sister, Helen
She was easy on the eye
I longed to get closer to her
But I was way too shy
We’d go working for his father
In the heat of that summer’s sun
Swim in the Bitterroot River
When our work was done
One day I left for a soda
And one for Jack to go
Returned to find him missing
Been caught by the undertow
They found him two hours later
Pulled him out with a grappling hook
Laid his poor body on the bank
I could scarcely bear to look
I was the one told Helen
Wonder how I ever did
I grew up and older that day
Still young, no longer a kid
There were tears to flood that river
The day they buried Jack
But I was too numb to shed them
And tears wouldn’t bring him back
Round about ten months later
I took Helen to the senior prom
For the boy that we both loved
We wept in each other’s arms
When I was a boy of just sixteen
The thought of it makes me shiver
I found and lost my one true friend D
rowned in the Bitterrroot River
8. THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE LINE
Written by Tony Lane
9. RORY IS A YOYO BOY
Rory is a yoyo boy
He makes ‘em dance and spin
Faster than the eye can see
He’s the yoyo king
Rory rides a unicycle
Cross the Texas plains
Just when you think he’s been and gone
Here he comes again
Rory is a yoyo boy
He’ll take it for a stroll
Then leap and twist and turn around
It’s yoyo rock ‘n’ roll
Rory is a yoyo boy
He dazzles with his tricks
If you scored him out of five
You’d likely give him six
Rory plays the bass guitar
Laying down the beat
Does the soft shoe shuffle
He’s got happy feet
Rory sells the merchandise
At his daddy’s gigs
Charms the money from your purse
Another of his tricks
Rory is a yoyo boy
He makes ‘em dance and spin
Faster than the eye can see
He’s the yoyo king
Rory plays the guitar
Fingers flying on the string
Steps up to the microphone
Rory yoyo sings
10. MOANIN' OF THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN
Written by Butch Hancock
11. THAT BOX
I opened up that box last night
The one with all our stuff
What a time we had back then
Too much was never enough
A guitar pick used on a westbound train
By an Elvis impersonater
Steve Davis was his his real name
Saw him on TV a few weeks later
A sign outside a lumber yard
On a Ballard, Washington street
“If Elvis doesn’t come forward now
He is in fact deceased”
A KOKE FM bumper sticker
Texas Chili Parlor Bill of Fare
A poster from The Palomino
Emmylou was playing there
A photo of that closed down store
In Rapid City, South Dakota
‘Exotic Lingerie and Ice Cream’
How could it be a failure?
Road maps and boarding cards
A Chicago panoramic view
Here’s Atlanta’s daily paper
‘Covers Dixie like the dew’
When I closed that box last night
The one with all our stuff
There was still a lot to see
Too much was more than enough
So that was then my younger self
Maybe I should write a letter
Reminding me what you used to say
We don’t get older, just better
12. DREAMS KEEP YOU ALIVE
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
Clearly you were nobody’s fool
Gained respect from all at school
When cancer struck, no-one could tell
You toughed it out, fought like hell
But six months later you passed away
Can’t remember a blacker day
The hardest thing I ever said
Was tell the boys that you were dead
Hey, Keith, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
You surely were one helluva sight
Cowboy hat, pulled down tight
Mirror shades, the real deal
Still in need of a good square meal
Roy said you’d make a grand old man
I guess it wasn’t your maker’s plan
Your stomach hurt, you couldn’t walk
Your mind still sharp whenever we’d talk
Hey, Roxy, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
You should have relaxed, let things pass
Single malt in your whisky glass
Charlie Rich on the stereo
Take it easy, take it slow
But you couldn’t, it wasn’t your style
You’d always go that extra mile
Your heart gave out, a final bow
At a younger age than I am now
Hey, Dad, thanks for dropping by
In my dreams you’re still alive
I saw you in my dreams last night
You really were a welcome sight
It was great to see you again
Looking good, free of pain
13. EVERYTHING ELSE IS WAITING
I was thinking last night
while Wes played his Fender
About the highwire artist, The Great Wallenda
How every day he stepped into the fire
With no safety net he walked on the wire
When asked why he did it
his reply is worth stating
“The wire is life, everything else is waiting.”
Been driving for hours to get to this town
Another small club, got to check the sound
Find a motel, need to shower and eat
Set up the merch, I’m dead on my feet
Up on the stage I go through my paces
Adrenalin kicks in, I hold all the aces
I’m the heavyweight champ, king of this ring
Just acoustic guitar and my songs to sing
No need to ask, here’s what I’m stating
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
This six string addiction is a stange affliction
Some shows are joy, some gigs are the worst
Most times I feel blessed,
sometimes I feel cursed
You ask would I have it any other way?
I’ll give you my answer, here’s what I’m stating
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
I was thinking last night
while Wes played his Fender
About the highwire artist, The Great Wallenda
How every day he stepped into the fire
With no safety net, he walked on the wire
When asked why he did it
his reply is worth stating
“The wire is life, everything else is waiting.”
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
This is my wire, this is my life
Everything else is waiting
14. ROADWORK IN THE BONEYARD
Lyrics written by Paul Zarzyski
15. ANOTHER SONG
I wrote another song last night
The first one of the year
It’s been a long time coming
How I wish that you were here
In airports and bus stations
Travelling far and near
My heart, it never left you
How I wish that you were here
Like a ship lost on the ocean
I don’t know where to steer
I still need you to guide me
How I wish that you were here
Alone here in the darkness
The hurt won’t disappear
You are my inspiration
How I wish that you were here
When all is said and done
You tried to quell the fear
I was so afraid I’d lose you
How I wish that you were here
CHORUS
If wishes were horses
Then beggars would ride
I’d walk through these streets
With you by my side
I know this can’t happen
It’s perfectly clear
Life goes on without you
Still I wish you were here
CHORUS
I wrote another song last night
One you’ll never hear
Still, I’ll sing it for you
How I wish that you were here