1 catskills morning
(Appeared on my first disk, but I had it in mind to redo the vocal and update the lyric. It’s still a crazy world out there.)
2 oh my
(Subtitle would be “Athens, Texas 1975.” Summer, blanket in a field under a full moon...nice memory.)
caught a ride on a star tonight
rode it all the way to you
found heaven nestled in your arms
sweet rush from your sigh on my face
soft skin on the back of your leg
oh my
moonrise lights up the night
reveals the picture of you in my eyes
lying there wearing just a smile
stars are witness to you and i
making love in ecstatic flight
oh my
dream baby, lie in bliss
i still taste your kiss as the
moon fades into the morning sky
i will hold on to this night
and i’ll remember you the rest of my life
oh my
3 it’s okay to cry
(Brooklyn, new artist in town; struggling relationship seems to be the norm for those types. there seems to be the perpetual holding each other back. brooklyn’s bleak in the winter when you’re alone and it’s so cold.)
wonder why every dream
comes apart at the seams
and why there’s no soft place to land sometimes
and love’s too high a price to pay
you’re better chasing it alone
the great unknown
you run along beside someone else and they fall
they’ll knock you down
if they fall they’ll knock you down
she says to me “you’ve grown colder”
so she’s gone south for the winter
when i dreamed my dream she wasn’t in the plan
so there’s no loss in the grand scheme
still her tender touch would do me fine
and there’s the light of her smile
that kept me safe on those desperate nights
my mama always said it’s okay to cry
so it’s okay if i cry
i’d pick up the phone if i knew where to call
and i know i’ll be all right if i just hold on
there’re no real losses as long as you’re alive
’cause tomorrow you get another chance to win it all
still her tender touch would do me fine
and there’s the light of her smile
that kept me warm on those long, cold winter nights
my mama always said it’s okay to cry
so it’s okay if i cry
it’s okay if i cry
4 my angel
(Having an angel around to keep you moving forward when you keep getting in your own way is a good thing. For Elsie.)
always knew i would find you
at the very same place i’d find myself
stayed the course, tried to keep a fresh horse
bent on drinking from the well
and i saw jesus in the wilderness
and i saw moses pointing the way
and you were my angel, my very own sweet angel
keeping me from going astray
every time i fell down i came back around
every unsure step was followed by another
i paid the cost for what could not be bought
the prize was you and me together
and i saw david in the wilderness
and i saw moses pointing the way
and you were my angel, my very own sweet angel
keeping me from going astray
now life goes like a river that flows
slow and easy to the sea
and the ocean’s my life liquid and wide
and i’m doing fine just being me
and i saw chief joseph in the wilderness
and i saw moses pointing the way
and you were my angel, my very own sweet angel
keeping me from going astray
5 when i look at that face
(Patty Black was the original inspiration. I opened a door and there she was, all smile. Faces like that, like Elsie’s and Mom’s and Joanne’s can calm a storm.)
when i feel the blues
ain’t ever gonna end
i get up
go visit a friend
she makes it right
puts everything in place
when i walk through that door
and i look at that face
i could run
from all of my problems
cry over my debt
lord knows i got ‘em
but i tell you right now
i ain’t no disgrace
and she tells me so
when i look at that face
she’s got a smile
like a wood-burning stove
calls me in
warms my soul
lifts my burdens
oh i feel saved
lord, lord, lord
when i look at that face
you’ve seen wonders
in this world
you’ve seen the beauty
of diamonds and pearls
but you ain’t seen nothin’
‘til you had a taste
of what it’s like
to take a look at that face
i got a litle money
and i got this old guitar
old clothes in my closet
and i drive an old car
these few little things
could disappear without a trace
but i wouldn’t miss ‘em
if i could look at that face
that beautiful face
6 it’s great to be alive
(A high school reunion led me to write this one. But the imagery comes from living in the northeast, a summer in the Berkshires, a drive and a dive near Delaware Water Gap, Elsie.)
sunrise, warm summer breeze
cool spring water flowing over me
i close my eyes but still i can see
that it’s great, it’s so beautiful to be alive
out on the road, got the windows rolled down on my car
and i pull it on over, drink red wine at a little country bar
got a long way to go but i’ve already come so far
and it’s great, it’s so beautiful to be alive
i think about all the friends i have known
and all of their children who are already grown
i’m gonna send out a message when i am ninety-nine
that it’s great, it’s so wonderful to be alive
my baby, my very own sweet angel,
takes a hold of my hand
and we are speaking a language
that we both can understand
and it shouts from here
to every distant land
that it’s good, it’s so wonderful
it is great, it’s so beautiful
to be alive
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