Other Voices / Other Rooms

Across The Great Divide

I've been walkin' in my sleep
Countin' troubles 'stead of countin' sheep
Where the years went I can't say
I just turned around and they've gone away

I've been siftin' through the layers
Of dusty books and faded papers
They tell a story I used to know
And it was one that happened so long ago

Chorus:
It's gone away in yesterday
Now I find myself on the mountainside
Where the rivers change direction
Across the Great Divide

Now, I hear the owl a-callin'
Softly as the night was fallin'
With a question and I replied
But he's gone across the borderline

(Repeat chorus)

The finest hour that I have seen
Is the one that comes between
The edge of night and the break of day
It's when the darkness rolls away

(Repeat chorus twice)

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Woman Of The Phoenix

Well, I've listened to the words you lover's speak
The sounds of the lover's song
And I've dreamed all the dreams that a wayward girl dreams
In a thousand places gone
Dallas was my late night out
Radcliffe's served to roust me out
And Houston lay like Cleveland with the color removed
And all I ever wanted
Was to wander and be wooed
Like a Woman of the Phoenix
A welcomed Waterloo

I've seen the sun blaze the breast of the countryside
I've seen her huddled in a winter freeze
And I've run cross paths of a thousand lives
Among the cactus and the white birch trees
Avloc ran a waterfront bar
Vito, he was the king of thieves
And Michael was a rock 'n roll hood from the Odessa plains
Now, all of them were my kind
Wild and damn near free
But, a Woman of the Phoenix is the medicine they need

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Tecumseh Valley

The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
And her ways were free
It seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her

She came from Spencer
Across the hill
She said her Pa had sent her
'Cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter

She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labor

But the times were hard Lord
The jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally's

She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her Pa had died
The word come down from Spencer

So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her

They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... Tecumseh Valley

(repeat first verse)

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Three Flights Up

We returned to that five room flat
Now it was empty and this the last time
There were blinking pictures
Of how we'd sit and chat
Some of them are scattered
Others shattered in my mind

Chorus:
It was always three flights up
Cathedral bells kept time

In the winter, a-chatterin' cold
While the building shook like ragweed in the wind
Stories from the heat pipes
We were told
But now they only leave me
With a half enchanted grin

(Repeat chorus)

Bridge:
Bicycles squeezed down alley ways into view
And towels warmed on oven doors
To not freeze
Was the only thing to do

I wonder if we kept to the fair warning
'Cause I can see it in the flowers
Dyin' on the window sill
I know we must be out by tomorrow mornin'
But am I goin' 'gainst my will

(Repeat chorus)

(Bridge)

(Repeat last verse)

(Repeat chorus)

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Boots Of Spanish Leather

Oh, I'm sailin' away my own true love
I'm sailin' away in the mornin'
Is there somethin I can send you
From across the sea
From the place where I'll be landin'

There's nothin' you can send me my own true love
There is nothin' I'm wishin' to be ownin'
Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled
From across that lonesome ocean

Ah, but I just thought you might want somethin' fine
Made of silver or of golden
Either from the mountains of Madrid
Or from the coast of Barcelona

If I had the stars of the darkest night
And the diamonds from the deepest ocean
I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss
That's all I wish to be ownin'

I might be gone a long ole time
And it's only that I'm askin'
Is there somethin' I can send you
To remember me by?
To make your time more easy passin'?

How can, how can you ask me again?
It only brings me sorrow
The same thing I would want today
I would want again tomorrow

Oh, I got a letter on a lonesome day
It was from his ship a-sailin'
Sayin' I don't know when I'll be comin' back again
It depends on how I'm feelin'

If you my love must think that-a-way
I'm sure your mind is a-roamin'
I'm sure your thoughts are not with me
But with the country where you're goin'

So take heed, take heed of the western wind
Take heed of stormy weather
And yes there is somethin' you can send back to me
Spanish boots of Spanish leather

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Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness

You come home late
And you come home early
You come on big
When you're feelin' small
You come home straight
And you come home curly
Sometimes you don't come home at all

Chorus:
So what in the world's come over you?
What in heavens name have you done?
You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You're out there runnin'
Just to be on the run

Well, I got a heart that burns with a fever
And I got a worried and a jealous mind
Well how can a love
That will last forever
Get left so far behind?

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From Clare To Here

Four who shared this room and
we were caught up in the crack
Sleeping late on Sundays
and we never got to Mass

Chorus:
It's a long way from Clare to here
It's a long way from Clare to here
It's a long, long way
It get's further by the day
It's a long, long way from Clare to here

When Friday comes around
we're only into fighting
My Ma would like a letter home but
I'm too tired for writing

(Repeat chorus)

It almost breaks my heart
when I think of my family
I told them I'd be coming home with my
pockets full of green

(Repeat chorus)

The only time I feel alright
is when I'm into drinking
It can sort of ease the pain of it and it
levels out my thinking

(Repeat chorus)

I sometimes hear the fiddles play,
maybe it's just a notion
I dream I see white horses dance upon
that other ocean

(Repeat chorus)

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Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

It's a long and dusty road
It's a hot and heavy load
And the folks I meet ain't always kind
Some are bad and some are good
Some have done the best they could
Some have tried to ease my trouble in mind

Chorus:
And I can't help but wonder where I'm bound
Where I'm bound
I can't help but wonder where I'm bound

I've been wandering through this land
Just doin' the best I can
Tryin' to find what I was meant to do
And the people that I see
Look as worried as can be
And it looks like they are wanderin', too

(Repeat chorus)

And I had me a buddy back home
But he started out to roam
And I hear he's out by Frisco Bay
And, sometimes, when I've had a few
His old voice comes ringin' through
And I'm goin' out to see him some old day

If you see me passin' by
And you sit and you wonder why
And you wish that you were a rambler, too
Just nail your shoes to the kitchen floor
Lace 'em up and bar the door
Thank your stars for the roof that's over you

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Do Re Mi

Well, thousands of folks back east they say
Are leavin' home most everyday
They're beatin' the hot ole dusty way
To the California line
Across the desert sands they roll
A-gettin' outta that ole dust bowl
They think they're goin' to a sugar bowl
But, here is what they find
The police at the port of entry say
You're number 14,000 for the day

Chorus:
If you ain't got that Do Re Mi boys
If you ain't got that Do Re Mi
Oh, you better go back to beautiful Texas
Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas, Tennessee
California is a garden of Eden
It's a paradise to live in or see
Believe it or not you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got that Do Re Mi

Well, if you wanna buy you a home or farm
That can't deal nobody harm
Or take your vacations by the mountains or the sea
Don't swap your old cow for a car
You'd better stay right where you are
You better take this little tip from me
Cuz' I look through the want ads every day
And the headlines in the papers always say

(Repeat chorus)

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This Old Town

This old town should've burned down in 1929
That's when we stood in line
Waiting for our soup
Swallowing our pride
This old town should've burned down in 1931
When the rain refused to come
Air filled up our bellies
Dust filled up our lungs
And we thought our time had come

Chorus:
This old town was built by hand
In the dust bowl of the Mother land
There must be rock beneath this sand
Oh, I'll be damned
This town still stands

This old town should've burned down in 1944
When the last men went to war
They came back different
If they came back at all
This old town should've burned down in 1956
That's when the twister hit
And all our hopes were buried
Beneath the boards and bricks
And we almost called it quits

(Repeat chorus)

Bridge:
Somewhere in the distance
The city lights do shine
The sidewalks gleam with neon dreams
That call from time to time
When my children's children
Ask me why I didn't go
They say the heart of any town
Is the people that you've known
They'll always call you home

(Repeat chorus)

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Comin' Down In The Rain

Flipped into the wind
Like the ashes of her cigarette
He got scattered thrown on the breeze
As he tried to forget
He lost all his heat
And his heart never will be the same
He got lighter than air
But he'll only come down in the rain

Strung out and hung out to dry
Laughin' under the line
It's not such a dignified place
But he really don't mind
He says with his feet on the ground
He'd have nothin' to say
Claims he likes it up there
And he'll only come down in the rain

Chorus:
Comin' down in the rain
Washin' outta the sky
Loaded down with the pain
There just ain't no way to fly
You can read him as clear
As the wall where he once wrote his name
It was right next to hers
But it'll only come down in the rain

Burnin' himself out on a limb
Like a leaf in the fall
He blazed for awhile
Now he's feelin' all dried up and small
The colors all gone
Disappeared, near as quick as it came
He says he can't stay up
But, he'll only come down in the rain

(Repeat chorus)

You can read him as clear as the wall
Where he once wrote his name
It was right next to hers
But he'll only come down in the rain

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Ten Degrees And Getting Colder

He was standing by the highway
With a sign that just said Mother
When he heard a driver coming
About a half a mile away
So he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day

He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singing songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder I don't know

Chorus:
And she told him she would take him
For a ride in the morning sun
Back in Boulder he had told her
I don't know when, I've had a better friend

It was out in Arizona
That he heard the lady listening
To each word that he was saying
To each line that he would write
So he sat down at her table
And they talked about the weather
98.6 and rising down by Boulder Dam that night

(Repeat chorus)

Now he's traded off his Martin
Though his troubles aren't all over
His feet are almost frozen and the sun is sinking low
Won't you listen to me Brother, if you ever loved your Mother
Please pull off on the shoulder, if you're goin' Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder down by Boulder Dam today

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Morning Song For Sally

As the morning light stretched in across my bed
I thought of you
Remembering your laughing eyes and all we said
I love you too
As all my thoughts of you pass 'fore my face a thousand times
The way they race my heart... I cannot say it all in lines

How the short time together lasts so long
Makes me strong
As two weeks came and went then you and I were gone
Living on
For it seems our love was destined
to be caught in other nets
But the love we held so brief
I'd chance again without regret

Yes, standing by the road has been my song before
Much too long
But now somehow I'm forced to
see me there once more
And that's the song
For my waking thoughts of you are
but extensions of the dream
Without you here beside me
I'll never know all that they mean

As the morning light stretched in across my bed
I thought of you
Remembering your laughing eyes and all we said
I love you too
As all my thoughts of you pass 'fore my face a thousand times
The way they race my heart... I cannot say it all in lines

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Night Rider's Lament

While I was out a-ridin'
The graveyard shift midnight till dawn
The moon was as bright as a reading light
For a letter from an old friend back home

Chorus:
He asked me
Why do you ride for your money?
Why do you rope for short pay?
You ain't gettin' nowhere
And you're losin' your share
Oh, you must've gone crazy out there

He said last night I ran into Jenny
They married and have a good life
Oh, you sure missed the track when you never came back
She made the perfect professional's wife

(Repeat chorus){she}

Bridge:
They've never seen the northern lights
Never seen a hawk on the wing
Never seen the spring hit the Great Divide
And they ain't ever heard old Camp Cookie sing

Now, I read up the last of my letter
And tore of the stamp for Black Jim
Little Dougie rode up to relieve me
He just looked at my letter and grinned

(Repeat chorus){they}

(Repeat bridge){they}

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Are Tired Of Me Darling

Are you tired of me my darling?
Did you mean those words you said?
That made me yours forever
Since the day when we were wed

Chorus:
And tell me, would you live life over
Could you make another wife
Are you tired of me my darling?
Answer only with your eyes

Do you ever rue the springtime
When we first each other met?
How we spoke in warm affection
Words my heart can ne'er forget

(Repeat chorus)

Do you think the blooms departed
From the cheeks you thought so fair?
Do you think I've grown cold hearted
Beneath the load of woman's cares?

(Repeat chorus twice)

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Turn Around

Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Where are you goin' my baby my own?
Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

First Chorus:
Turn around
Turn around
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Little Dirndles and petticoats, where have you gone?
Turn around and you're tiny
Turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of your own

Second Chorus:
Turn around
Turn around
Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of your own

(Repeat First Chorus)

Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Where are you goin' my baby my own?

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Wimoweh

No real lyrics as such!

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