You choose some direction and follow a sound; The wind's intention may turn you around. Maybe you need some time to be free- What is freedom? Come show it to me. You turn around, I'm here this time; You turn around and I'm gone. I'll turn down some line And walk that line alone. The wind's blowing colder, so cold on my skin; The sun turns his shoulder, it's winter again. Sing lonely songs to the stars in the sky; Walk all alone in a crystalline night. You turn around, I'm here this time; You turn around and I'm gone. I'll turn down some line And walk that line alone. Go straight through the seasons that turn us around; Go follow a songline, a beacon of sound; Try to remember the song of a friend. A circle's forever, a line always ends. You choose some direction and follow a sound; The wind's intention may turn you around. Maybe you need some time to be free- What is freedom? Come show it to me. You turn around, I'm here this time; You turn around and I'm gone. I'll turn down some line And walk that line alone.
"Diogenes": that's your name for me, And I make you feel such a purity, But me, I see the snow fall through the trees; I've got to drive on soon before the roadways freeze. You say you want me to be there, You say I've answered all your prayers. Well, I turn my head while you just stare At the incarnation of your misplaced cares. And you say you need me; I guess I need you, too. Babe, believe me, It's the best that I can do. You can laugh at such an aged child, You can cry for all his thoughts grown wild, But just don't judge him 'cause this ain't no trial, Though he'll take an oath to return some while. I'll be true to me before I'm true to you. I've heard a thousand judgements I'm confused; I've got a thousand proverbs I can't use; I've got so many roads that I just can't choose. And you say you need me; I guess I need you, too. Babe, believe me, It's the best that I can do. I'll be there beside you soon, Leave your curtains drawn in the full of the moon - In its silvery light I can read the runes; You can cast your spell until the afternoon. Though the snow falls heavy, it makes no sound; It covers houses and it covers ground, Reflects all colors and it makes no sound, Though it won't be long before it all melts down. And you say you need me; I guess I need you, too. Babe, believe me, It's the best that I can do.
Chorus: This guitar belonged to my friend William; This guitar, it no longer sounds so good; When I hold it, there are times when I can see him; The frets are worn; there's no finish on the wood. His hand were stained from the indigo and madder, Roots and walnuts, weld yellow, shell and cochineal - Never coal tar, never aniline for color - His tapestries showed free men in their fields. He built his cabin about a mile from the highway; He wove his hangings; he made birds from wood and stone; He built this guitar; then he took it down the highway. He sang of love, though he mostly sang alone. He toured the towns with their rivers fouled by factories. He sang out loud to the women in the mills. He sang about the dead men in their coal mines. His voice rang clear through the hollers and the hills. (chorus) He sang about the bitter fruit of violence;* He sang about his love that never died. We who heard him, I think we were the truly privileged; We heard his message: "Working people, we will rise!" I'm gonna save it; I'm gonna save it for the future. Gonna put it in the hands of Eddie Diehl.** He'll fill the cracks, change the frets and fix the action - Bring it back to the forests and the fields. (chorus)
* On the record the line is "bitter fruit of mining," but I prefer the word "violence," and that's how I perform it live.
** I'm proud to know Ed Diehl as a personal friend, and along with many of my colleagues consider him to be a master repairman, and as a jazz guitarist he is the pride of the Hudson Valley. We call him "the real Diehl."
Pull off on the shoulder, driver, Let's turn around for home; We've been on this road so long I'm feeling all alone. Might be the road to heaven, driver; Might be the road to hell; With my hands so shaky and my eyes so red Driver, I can't tell. Drive on, driver; Drive me back home. Walls of fire and hills of ice Can't keep me here alone. Might be the road to fortune, driver; Might be the road to fame; Might be the road to one more town Where no one knows my name. I wanna see my woman And see my little girl; If I see them one more time I'll see this whole darn world. Drive on, driver; Drive me back home. Walls of fire and hills of ice Can't keep me here alone. Sometimes I sing for money, driver; Sometimes I sing for love; Sometimes I don't want to sing at all- That's when this road gets tough. I feel like some fallen angel singing Into an empty night; My voice just echoes through the wilderness My song it don't sound right. Drive on, driver; Drive me back home. Walls of fire and hills of ice Can't keep me here alone.
Emily, merrily Waters all the ferns inside the old bookstore. Emily - one, two, three Dusts the books and sweeps across the oaken floor - There's nothing more. She grins at Mrs. Reilly And she's out the door. Mrs. Reilly watches till she's gone. Down the street, Emily Finds the bank as often times she's done before. Emily strains to see Fingerprints on windows and the big brass door - Her special chore Although she cleans them everyday There (are) always more The bankers laugh - she doesn't understand. The sounds of hungry engines fill the city street; She sings the only song she's ever known; She sings her "Jesus loves me" as she drags her feet: She sings her "Jesus loves me" all alone. Emily hopes to see All the smiling shopkeepers that she once knew. Emily, wearily Calls at all the stores along the avenue - Some are new. Old familiar faces now Have grown so few. She waits and then she slowly shuffles on. The sounds of hungry engines fill the city street; She sings the only song she's ever known; She sings her "Jesus loves me" as she drags her feet: She sings her "Jesus loves me" all alone.
We've just a little time in the sun, So take a minute free from the run. We're in the middle, swept into the race; We should begin to soften the pace. We're running on a wheel; Let's cut a better deal. I feel like slowing down. It's an illusion, that product I need; They're all abstractions, those numbers I read; It's a delusion that business must grow, And my reactions are starting to slow. We're running out of time; Our tragedy unwinds. I feel like slowing down On a dying planet, must we be diseased? Hooked upon a habit; planting poison seeds. Can we shrink production, expand our leisure time, Stop the cheap seduction, educate our minds, open up our minds? Sifting hours, my honey and me. Golden voices call out from the trees. We see the flowers; we're seizing the day. We're making choices to do it this way. It's freedom from the wheel, With time enough to feel Life is slowing down. So take a minute and watch it unwind: The GNP's just a part of our minds We're locked within it - the one data base, And you can feel it controlling the pace. Invested in our chips, Our vital interests slip I feel like slowing down Life could be so simple, spending mostly time. Luxury or leisure - what's your bottom line? Look to your obsession, that shiny thing you hold: There is no possession: Everything must go, Everything must go, It will surely go.
I wander aimlessly down empty streets, wondering Whatever happened to our love? I keep on hoping, love, that we will meet, suddenly I realize I've hoped enough. The years go by, I know we tried But it's not good enough to cry - Your angry words rang loud and true. But now and then, I think again And I remember back to when Our lives together seemed so new. Walk on, act like you don't even know me; Talk on to the man who is trying to be me. I see you stepping out, you seem so proud, dancing - Whatever happened to our songs? I see you're running with a whole new crowd, baby It's plain to see you've moved along. Eyes meet, smile like you know me from somewhere; I see that you don't want to show that you still care. I've got my own life now, I'm doing fine, really, I'm doing everything I want. The things I'm doing take up all my time, can't you see I'm really quite content you're gone? The years go by, I know we tried But it's not good enough to cry - Your angry words rang loud and true. But now and then I think again And I remember back to when Our lives together seemed so new. Moments pass, with a sad recollection. Dis-tant-ly I can see your reflection.
I couldn't wait to leave it behind: The wind made my numb; the snow made me blind. When winter broke, I felt the urge to move. Like the Spring, I was soon gone away. The green leafed things I barely saw, The streams breaking through their icy jaws. I found myself caught in the motel-go-round; And the Summer it flew by me, too. And I found out that being away Was being away too long. And the bright lights shone on me, And I thought that I could see, But, oh how they blinded me. I went to her house when the leaves began To fall on the road where she lived with her friends. A man at the door told me all I had to know: Oh, how the cold wind cut through me. And now as that cold wind blows in her face The snow's falling down; my footsteps erased I'm bound for the south where I won't see that snow, But the coldness still cuts through my skin. And I found out that being away Was being away too long. And the bright lights shone on me, And I thought that I could see, But, oh how they blinded me. And I found out that being away Was being away too long. Yes, and I found out I'd been led astray By a sweetly misleading song.
We who have come from this forest, We who have come from this land, We who would sift for an answer Sitting on ancestral sand... Rivers of silver we've drifted on And there's gold in the sunset as it fades fast away - I'll build a fire against nightfall Safe by its side you will stay. Fearful of sounds in the forest, Warmed by a cup of good cheer, Kindness we keep in the bottle, Fruit from the now distant year. Now I will sing you a favorite song. It's just one that I learned from a soul long in life. One story follows another; You'll take your turn in the night. Sit by the fire I've been keeping, Sit by my fire until dawn. While you were so sweetly sleeping All our fathers have gone. Back in the city so distant, Men in a circle of pain; Hands that once worked for subsistance Reach for a bottle of grain. Lonely girl sits in a motel room While the radio drowns out the sound of her child. Lonely girl opens the window; radio sings to the night. Sit by the fire I've been keeping, Sit by my fire until dawn. While you were so sweetly sleeping All our fathers have gone. Stones in a circle will linger; Ashes will drift in the wind; Words in the speaking were dying; Dreams in the daylight grow dim. Songs we'll remember for just awhile, While they keep out the shadow that stalks in the night... We in a circle were singing; stones in a circle survive. Sit by the fire I've been keeping, Sit by my fire until dawn. While you were so sweetly sleeping All our fathers have gone.
World enough - anywhere with you by my side; Halfway through Love's Day we pause, watching as the time passes by. Love's Enough, as the waters rise on the sand - On the shrinking shore we walk, side by side with hand held in hand. Love's Enough to fill up all our day; Only Love's Enough for us. Love's Enough to help us wend our way And it's in our love we will trust. Time's too short: we will never sing all our song; It's there among the leaves that change, sighing as the wind moves them on. Love's Enough, lasting through the hours of our day - Hours that pass us by - these dreams - lovely as they fall away. Love's Enough to fill up all our day; Only Love's Enough for us. Love's Enough to help us wend our way And it's in our love we will trust.