"Nashville"

As i drive from your pearly gates i realize that i just can't stay all those mountains they kept you locked inside and hid the truth from my slighted eyes i came to you with a half-open heart dreams upon my back illusions of a brand-new start nashville can't i carry the load is it my fault i can't reap what i sow? nashville did you give me half a chance with your southern style and your hidden dance? all those voices they whisper through my walls they talk of falling fast they say i'm losing it all they say i'm running blind to a love of my own but i'll be walking proud I'm saving what i still own i fell on my knees to kiss your land but you are so far down i can't even see to stand nashville you forgot the human race you see with half a mind what colors hide the face nashville i'd like to know your fate i'd like to stay awhile but i've seen your lowered state today i'm leaving but i've got all these debts to pay we all owe our dues i'll pay in some other place i never ask that you pay me back we all arrive
with more i left with less than i had your town is made for people passing through a last chance for cause well i thought i knew nashville tell me what you gonna do with your southern style it'll never pull you through nashville i can't place no blame but if you forget my face i'll never call your name again i fell on my knees to kiss your land but you are so far down i can't even see to stand nashville you forgot the human race you see with half a mind what colors hide the face nashville i'd like to know your fate i'd like to stay awhile but i've seen your lowered state today i'm running away

"Let It Be Me"

Sticks and stones battle zones a single light bulb on a single thread for the black sirens wail history fails rose-colored glass begins to age and crack while the politicians shadowbox the power ring in an endless split decision never solve anything from a neighbor's distant land i heard the strain of the common man let it be me (this is not a fighting song) let it be me (not a wrong for a wrong) let it be me, if the world is night shine my life like a light well the world seems spent and the president has no good idea of who the masses are well i'm one of them and i'm among friends trying to see beyond the fences of our own backyard i've seen kingdoms blow like ashes in the winds of change but the power of truth is the fuel for the flame so the darker the ages get there's a stronger beacon yet let it be me (this is not a fighting song) let it be me (not a wrong for a wrong) let it be me, if the world is night shine my life like a light in the kind word you speak in the turn of the cheek when your vision
stays clear in the face of your fear then you see turning off a light switch is their only power when we stand like spotlights in a mighty tower all for one and one for all then we sing the common call let it be me (this is not a fighting song) let it be me (not a wrong for a wrong) let it be me, if the world is night shine my life like a light

"Cedar Tree"

You dug a well you dug it deep for every wife you buried you planted a cedar tree the best you ever had i stand where you stood i stand for the bad or good i am green you are wood the best he ever had i dig a well i dig it deep and for my only love i plant a cedar tree the best we ever had

"Fugitive"

I'm harboring a fugitive a defector of a kind she lives in my soul drinks of my wine and i'd give my last breath to keep us alive are they coming for us with cameras or guns we don't know which but we gotta run you say this is not what i bargained for so hide yourself for me all for me we swore to ourselves we'd go to the end of the world but i got caught up in whirl and the twirl of it all a day in the sun dancing alone baby i'm so sorry now now it's coming to you the lessons i've learned won't do you any good you've got to get burned the curse and the blessing they're one in the same baby it's all such a treacherous gain hide yourself from me i said hide yourself from me all for me i stood without clothes danced in the sand i was aching with freedom kissing the damned i said remember this as how it should be baby i said it's all in our hands got to learn to respect what we don't understand we are fortunate ones fortunate ones i swear so hide yourself for me i will hide myself for you all for you i stood
without clothes danced in the sand i was aching with freedom kissing the damned i said remember this as how it should be

"Least Complicated"

I sit two stories above the street it's awful quiet here since love fell asleep there's life down below me though the kids are walking home from school some long ago when we were taught that for whatever kind of puzzle you got you just stick the right formula in a solution for every fool i remember the time when i came so close with you sent me skipping my class and running from school and i bought you that ring cause i never was cool what makes me think i could start clean slated the hardest to learn was the least complicated so i just sit up in the house and resist and not be seen until i cease to exist a kind of conscientious objection a kind of dodging the draft the boy and girl are holding hands on the street and i don't want to but i think you just wait it's more than just eye to eye learn the things i could never apply i remember the time when i came so close to you i let everything go it seemed the only truth and i bought you that ring it seemed the thing to do what makes me think i could start
clean slated the hardest to learn was the least complicated what makes me think i could start clean slated the hardest to learn was the least complicated oh i'm just a mirror of a mirror of myself the things that i do the next time i fall i'm gonna have to recall it isn't love it's only something new i sit two stories above the street it's awful quiet here since love fell asleep there's life down below me though the kids are walking home from school i'm remembering the time when i came so close with you skipping my class and running from school and i bought you that ring cause i never was cool what makes me think i could start clean slated the hardest to learn was the least complicated what makes me think i could start clean slated the hardest to learn was the least complicated least complicated

"Language Or The Kiss"

I don't know if it was real or in a dream lately waking up i'm not sure where i've been there was a table set for six and five were there i stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair and there was steam on the windows from the kitchen laughter like a language i once spoke with ease but i'm made mute by the virtue of decision i choose most of your life goes on without me oh the fear i've known that i might reap the praise of strangers and end up on my own all i've sown was a song but maybe i was wrong i said to you the one gift which i'd adore unwrap a package of the next 10 years unfolding but you told me if i had my way i'd be bored right then i knew i loved you best born of your scolding when we last talked we were lying on our backs looking up at the sky through the ceiling i used to lie like that alone out on the driveway trying to read the greek upon the stars the alphabet of feeling oh i knew back then it was a calling that said if joy then pain the sound of the voice these years later is
still the same i am alone in a hotel room tonight i squeeze the sky out but there's not a star appears begin my studies with this paper and this pencil and i'm working through the grammar of my fears mercy what i won't give to have the things that mean the most not to mean the things i miss unforgiving the choice still is the language or the kiss

"Reunion"

I had guards like watchdogs dogs in a manger i could feel the protection possession and anger and i drove out of there with no one behind me feeling funny and free all you pretty pretenders negligent vendors aren't you precious inside i have no need for anger with intimate strangers and i got nothing to hide i laughed as i said it this is my situation it's not pictures or privilege its just self preservation i don't want you to feel any obligation would it be so funny to be free all you pretty pretenders negligent vendors aren't you precious inside i have no need for anger with intimate strangers and i got nothing to hide we act empty and innocent but we are fueled by distortions (i remember you when we were shiny and new) of lives led in discontent trading misfortunes (now you guard your faith) cause faith is one thing that is hard to deliver (temper your speed) it feels funny being free all you pretty pretenders negligent vendors aren't you precious inside i have no need for anger with intimate strangers
pretty pretenders negligent vendors aren't we precious inside i have no need for anger with intimate strangers i got nothing to hide i had guards like watchdogs dogs in a manger (i remember you)

"Power Of Two"

Now the parking lot is empty everyone's gone someplace i pick you up and in the trunk i've packed a cooler and a 2 day suitcase cause there's a place we like to drive way out in the country live miles out of the city limit we're singing and your hand's upon my knee so we're okay we're fine baby i'm here to stop your crying chase all the ghosts from your head i'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed smarter than the tricks played on your heart we'll look at them together then we'll take them apart adding up the total of a love that's true multiply life by the power of two you know the things that i am afraid of i'm not afraid to tell and if we'd ever leave a legacy it's that we loved each other well i've seen the shadows of so many people trying on the treasures of youth a road that fancy and fast ends in a fatal crash and i'm glad we got off to tell you the truth cause we're okay we're fine baby i'm here to stop your crying chase all the ghosts from your head i'm stronger than the monster beneath your
bed smarter than the tricks played on your heart we'll look at them together then we'll take them apart adding up the total of a love that's true multiply life by the power of two all the shiny little trinkets of temptation (make new friends) something new instead of something old (but keep the old) all you gotta do is scratch beneath the surface (and remember what is gold) and it's fools gold fools gold fools gold (what is gold what is gold) and now we're talking about a difficult thing and your eyes are getting wet but i took us for better and i took us for worse and don't you ever forget it is the steel bars between me and a promise suddenly bend with ease and the closer i'm bound in love to you the closer i am to free so we're okay we're fine baby i'm here to stop your crying chase all the ghosts from your head i'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed smarter than the tricks played on your heart we'll look at them together then we'll take 'em apart adding up the total of a love that's true multiply life by the power of two

"Touch Me Fall"

I'm waking from a dream the neighborhood is green all the sounds i've missed all the years come down to wedding deaths and fears and all i've heard has been in vain like water on a stain touch me i'm so beautiful rub your hands across my head just like this come with me it's not worth it if you don't are you hiding i am hiding cypress moon bald in june like the granite in a stream swamp ophelia i'm torn down let your waters let me drown touch me i'm so beautiful rub your hands across my head just like this come with me it's not worth it if you don't are you crying i am crying jump jump jump so high watch me let you down if i stumble i will stumble if i fall i will fall i'm trying to hold it like rain in a river everything is getting bigger better this won't last forever touch me fall

"The Wood Song"

The thin horizon of a plan is almost clear my friends and I have had a hard time bruising our brains hard up against change all the old dogs and the magician now I see we're in the boat in two by twos only the heart that we have for a tool we could use and the very close quarters are hard to get used to love weighs the hull down with its weight but the wood is tired and the wood is old and we'll make it fine if the weather holds but if the weather holds then we'll have missed the point that's were i need to go no way construction of this tricky plan was built by other than a greater hand with a love that passes all our understanding watching closely over the journey yeah but what it takes to cross the great divide seems more than all the courage i can muster up inside but we get to have some answers when we reach the other side the prize is always worth the rocky ride but the wood is tired and the wood is old and we'll make it fine if the weather holds but if the weather holds then we'll have missed the point that's where i need to go sometimes i ask to sneak a closer look skip to the final chapter of the book and maybe steer us clear from some of the pain that it took to get us where we are this far but the question drowns in its futility and even i have got to laugh at me cause no one gets to miss the storm of what will be just holding on for the ride the wood is tired the wood is old and we'll make it fine if the weather holds but if the weather holds then we'll have missed the point that's where i need to go