CHEERS TO YOU

You stole this
Fess up little girl
You don’t own this
Or any piece of this world
You’ll grow out of this
But first confess
You’re out of control
 
You’re the oldest of five
Fess up little girl
You've got a deep disguise
All knuckles and nerves
You grow angry fast
With your fists in curls
You’re out of control
 
How could I blame you 
I claim you
For swallowing stigma and fears

On the rocks for years
Cheers to you

You can try to relax but fess up little girl
There’s a hook in the latch, you’re licking sand off a pearl

Snap out of it fast, or detach from this world

Detach, detach, detach
 
How could I blame you
I claim you
For swallowing stigma and fears 
On the rocks for years, 
Cheers to you

 On the rocks for years
Cheers to you
Here’s another drug to get you covered well
Now I’m tangled up in the wires of this triangle
My doc, my pharmacy, my insurance company
 
They’re in control
And they’ve been helping me out
With a bottle of pills
Some permissions slips
It’s grist for the mill
You know I’ve tried before
But you never know
This is lucky six
 
How could I blame you
I claim you
For swallowing stigma and fears 

EARTHQUAKE TOWN

You rise on a rainy day
And bike downhill in the dark
Sunrise paints a rainbow halo
Over Dolores Park
You hear a fleet of little Hybrids
Their silence all sounds the same
Maybe deep inside us
We’re all in similar pain
 
Some say discovered or stolen or found
You can still stick a stake in shaky ground
In this Golden Gate, heart-aching Earthquake Town
By the plaque, there’s a sober fountain
Has not had a drop in years
By the tracks, there’s a row of palm trees
Dripping with poems and tears
There’s a path and it’s undulating
There’s a cafe with a counter-grind
You run to the top of the hill

And you roll down one last time
Some say discovered or stolen or found
You can’t stick a stake in shaky ground
In this Golden Gate, heart-aching Earthquake town

It’s been a rough trade
Exchanging places
Like records in the stacks
Basketball courts gain rackets
Books lose their jackets
There’s a city made of tents under the overpass
 
Some say discovered or stolen or found
You can’t stick a stake in shaky ground
In a Golden Gate, heart-aching, Earthquake town
Some say discovered or stolen or found
You can’t stick a stake in shaky ground
In a Golden Gate, heart-aching, Earthquake town

RADIO SILENCE

Sometimes the spaceship loses direction
Sometimes the planets play out of tune
And radio, radio, radio silence
Muffles the muted moon
Sometimes the days are heavy like water
I want to lift them out of the mud
But radio, radio, radio silence
Bubbles into a flood
 
We try to put stuff out there
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
We try to share a little
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
We try to get along 
We’re keeping calm we carry on
We’re waiting, waiting, waiting
 
Sometimes a dart gets thrown into darkness
Sometimes I want to go bowling instead

But radio, radio, radio silence
Pins down my broken head
We try to put stuff out there
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting

We try to share a little
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
We try to get along 
We’re keeping calm we carry on
We’re waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
We’re waiting, waiting, waiting
 
Sometimes the evening takes me a minute
Somebody whisper, nobody cry
Oh radio, radio, radio silence
Sing like a lullaby
Oh radio, radio, radio silence
Sings like a lullaby 

MONDEGREENS

I can’t believe I’m sitting here studying your toes
How they land inside your sandals
How the polish dangles off them like a rose
How your cut-off jeans have tux and tails of 
Threaded denim seemingly exposed
 
You say you grew up with stressed out people
Some were fretting for a dime
I notice how your fingers 
Are worrying each other all the time
Is it your Irish roots that you keep you moving 
Or your fingers playing your childhood flute in mime
 
Sometimes life is funny, it’s not what it seems
And when the words cannot be made out,

Leads to the light
You may be drowning on the open sea
You may be diving like an osprey
You may be rising like a canopy of lily pads and lotuses
Who knows

Sometimes life is funny
It’s not what it seems
And when the words cannot be made out
You make up your mondegreens
And you may not know the difference
And sing the wrong words for your whole life
Maybe the wrong words, the wrong turns, the long way
Leads to the light
Maybe the long way
Leads to the light

You make up your mondegreens
And you may not know the difference
And sing the wrong words for your whole life
Maybe the wrong words, the wrong turns, the long way
Leads to the light

So let’s just say for an example
That you mess up a tree
It’s gonna lean for a while
Then it’s gonna find the sun and reach
Maybe your mind can’t think to wander
Til it’s severed from a treasured memory
 
Sometimes life is funny, it’s not what it seems
And when the words cannot be made out
You make up your mondegreens
And you may not know the difference
And sing the wrong words for your whole life
Maybe the wrong words, the wrong 
turns, the long way
 

OUT THERE

What’s it like to be a crow
A hummingbird, a sparrow
Out there, out there
 
Nothing you should ever know
You can’t fly, you’ll die if you go
Out there, out there
 
Stay back behind the sill, you silly girl
Outside is a sham and a bitter pill
Not one you should swallow
 
You should know the treachery
The burglary and butchery 
Out there, out there
 
A little girl should be afraid
It’s not safe to show you’re brave 
Out there, out there

Beyond the waiting wild
My daughter you can fly
There’s nothing wrong 
With what you were given
Good bones and a heart that’s driven
So live your life out there
 
Out there the world is kind and cruel

It’s black and blue and yellow
And there’s melody and harmony 

There’s violin and cello
I want to explore
It’s what we’re made for
I hear you and you’re with me everywhere
Go out into the world and live out there
Go out into the world, live out there

Stay back behind the wall, you little girl
Outside they will all just ridicule
Chew you up and swallow

Beyond the waiting wild
My daughter you can fly
There’s nothing wrong 
With what you were given
Good bones and a heart that’s driven
So live your life out there
 
Mama, I can see the wind
I can hear it like a violin
Out there
Go out beyond the ledge, you clever girl
Fledglings have the edge in a bitter world

You’ll become a swallow

DRY CREEK RIVER

She’s got the heart of an artist 
Who lays her canvas bare
She’s a campfire arsonist 
And she’ll give you a scare
As she drives up the sides of the vines 
To a tree-house on a hill
Then points to the sky where a buzzard 
Is circling some kill
 
You don’t know the reasons why 
A person turns out 
To manifest a handsome nest 
In the middle of a drought
But every dry-land farmer knows 
The vines will overflow
Deep inside a fractured field
The finest grapes still grow
 
Dry creek river, dusty road 
‘Dry creek river, dusty road 
Dry creek river, dusty road 
Dry creek river, dusty road 

You won’t see that one-lane bridge 
Covered up in snow
But she’ll lead you to a tree-limb swing 
At the end of a rope
And she’ll feed you from a garden bed 
In a sawed-off barrel of wine
Harvesting some hope
Savoring this time, time
 
Shape the clay with your hands
Or let the mud slide
Your statue may stand up
But the inside stays wild
At the edge of the hill 
An abandoned caboose
She will take you there
She will cut you loose
 
Dry creek river, dusty road 
Dry creek river, dusty road 
Dry creek river, dusty road 
Dry creek river, dusty road

GOOD MORNING

Sippy cups balanced on the rim of the bed
Silverware talking on the table that said:
Good morning, good morning to you
 
Walking down the middle in a big red coat
And a little white puppy digging paws in snow
Good morning, good morning to you
 
‘Cause it’s a morning, and we’re searching,
We been searching for a while
It’s not doom day, not the worst day,
But it’s been a long, long time since we’re
 
Sipping our tomatoes on a big jet plane
Squam Lake wandering, chateau train
Good morning, good morning to you
 
From the Head of the Charles to a fishing stream
From a field in Vermont to the Giving Tree
Good morning, good morning to you

‘Cause it’s a morning, and we’re searching,
We been sifting through our past
It’s not doom day, not the worst day

Sippy cups balanced on the rim of the bed
Silverware talking on the table that said:
Good morning, good morning to you
 
Walking down the middle in a big red coat
And a little white puppy digging paws in snow
Good morning, good morning to you
 
‘Cause it’s a morning, and we’re searching,
We been searching for a while
It’s not doom day, not the worst day,
But it’s been a long, long time since we’re
 
Sipping our tomatoes on a big jet plane
Squam Lake wandering, chateau train
Good morning, good morning to you
 
From the Head of the Charles to a fishing stream
From a field in Vermont to the Giving Tree
Good morning, good morning to you

But it’s time to raise a glass
To say I toast this time with you
Three cheers to I say I do see the reasons why
We need some room to grow
And if you love it set it free
How many times have I had that said to me
So I see you, I need you, I free you, I do

Good morning, good morning to you
Baby in the bassinet, eyes so bright
Long curly fingers in the warm spring light
Good morning, good morning to you
A sister came along, it was make-believe
Tea sets, fairies and a tree house breeze
Good morning, good morning to you
‘Cause it’s a morning, and we’re searching,
We been sifting through our past
It’s not doom day, not the worst day

But it’s time to raise a glass
To say I toast this time with you
Three cheers to I say I do see the reasons why
We need some room to grow

And if you love it set it free
How many times have I had that said to me
So I see you, I need you, I free you, I do
 
Good morning, good morning to you
Who’s giving rides from the cold downtown
Who’s sitting in the front seat reaching around
To the back seat, just to hold my hidden hand
Who’s the back-flip daddy with a broken wrist
Who’s the blonde-haired boy in a playground kiss
How would you know that I still long for this?
 
It’s not about regretting, but I wasted time
It’s not about apologies, but you have mine
Good morning, good morning to you
And the dozens of books always by your bed
And the bracelet you gave me on the day we wed

And the big rolls of paper painted yellow and red
There are things that I know that I never said
Good morning, good morning to you
Good morning, good morning to you

HIGHER GROUND

You’ve been tracking tsunamis
With your back against the wall
Waiting for the warning signals
Waiting for the sea to fall
And a sure sign something’s coming
Something’s coming around
And it’s time to run your baby up to higher ground
Higher ground, higher ground now
 
Ooooooooh, higher ground now
Ooooooooh, oooooooh
 
You’ve been crossing bridges
You’ve been paying a toll
Dipping underneath the tunnels
You’ve been digging a hole
And the deeper and the wider sides 
Are slipping down
And it’s time to run your baby up to higher ground
Higher ground, higher ground now

Ooooooooh, higher ground now
Ooooooooh, oooooooh
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
 
If you feel an earthquake and you’re by the sea
You gotta run into the mountains, immediately
It’s a sure sign something’s coming
Something’s coming around
And it’s time to run your baby up to higher ground
Higher ground, higher ground now
 
Ooooooooh, higher ground now
Ooooooooh, oooooooh
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do . . . 
Singing from the rooftops, singing from the rooftops, yeah . . .