Road Of Man You might know the gospel - you might not know the truth You might read the headlines and wonder what’s the use You might hate your neighbors and all they hold as true You better polish up your button that says “What Would Jesus Do” You might think that no one else can rock it like you can You might not know where to go when mapping out your plan Be careful where you turn It might be too late to learn How to find direction Out on the road of man You might be a cynic but drop a nickel in the well You might not believe in heaven but hope there ain’t no hell You might take precautions against the twists of fate You might even take to prayin’ in hopes you’re not too late You might worry ‘bout your future and the chances that you took Something might be gaining on you but you’re too afraid to look Your foot’s hard on the gas Be sure to signal when you pass Or you might just miss that curve ahead Out on the road of man You might be judging others by the color of their skin You might hold the keys to heaven or think you know the back way in You might be corner preaching with hell-fire in your eye You might be in the shelter just trying to get by You might think your day to day is more than you can stand You might feel like you’re trying to catch some moonbeams in your hand Remember long ago Someone told you so Nothing is the way it seems Out on the road of man You might beg for forgiveness but not understand the rules You might mistake some broken glass for the sacred jewels You might feel like you’re getting born or you might think you're dead You might not recognize your savior if she dropped right in your bed You might whistle past the graveyard you might spit into the wind You might be just another innocent committing mortal sin You might have all the answers Share them if you can Cause you ain’t rollin’ solo Out on the road of man You got a lot of company You better understand That you ain’t rollin’ solo….

Everybody’s Just A Heartbeat Away We got bells and whistles We got whistles and bells Angels from heaven Hounds from hell There’s a train in the distance Half a mile away I’m gonna be on that train some day Everybody’s just a heartbeat Everybody’s just a heartbeat away Everybody’s just a heartbeat away from the next thing Everybody’s just a heartbeat Everybody’s just a heartbeat away Everybody’s just a heartbeat away from the next thing We got ice and fire We got fire and ice We can’t be trusted To our own device There’s a train in the distance Moving farther on One day soon that train’ll be gone Everybody’s just a heartbeat Everybody’s just a heartbeat away Everybody’s just a heartbeat away from the next thing Everybody’s just a heartbeat Everybody’s just a heartbeat away Everybody’s just a heartbeat away from the next thing You blow them whistles You ring them bells For all you’re worth Better ring them well Maybe that train in the distance Gonna come back around I myself - I’m heading for higher ground

Warp And Weft If I come to you will you stay with me Will you stay with me ’til morning When the loom in silhouette does stand Will you stay with me ’til day is nigh If I lay with you will you stay with me Will you stay with me ’til night is done And the yarn is limned in dawn’s soft kiss ‘Til the whippoorwill to bed does fly (B)Will you stay with me ’til I am strong ‘Til this work in process stands complete Will you honor that which deftly guides The artist’s hand so surely If I stay with you will you stay with me My warp, your weft, our threadbare souls Skeins of love divinely pure Shall be finely wov’n to tapestry If I come to you will you stay with me Will you stay with me ’til morning

Never Trust This Weary World It all adds up to nothing It all rolls into one You can’t take one from nothing Tell me can you son Can’t get blood from a diamond Can’t get tears from a pearl Never trust nothing In this weary world I once knew a preacher A complicated man His one and only message Was do the best you can I thought he walked on water I thought he rolled the stone Until the day he told me My soul was not my own It all adds up to nothing It all rolls into one You can’t take one from nothing Tell me can you son Can’t get blood from a diamond Can’t get tears from a pearl Never trust nothing In this weary world I once knew a blind man His eyes were made of wood He could see all kinds of things That I never could Colors of the rainbow To him were ever hid But the colors of my feelings To him were vivid It all adds up to nothing It all rolls into one You can’t take one from nothing Tell me can you son Can’t get blood from a diamond Can’t get tears from a pearl Never trust nothing In this weary world The moral of my story I’ll tell you to your face Nothing is for certain There ain’t no amazing grace No matter what they’ve shown you No matter what you’ve heard Never trust nothing In this weary world

Around Here Holes in the streets, holes in the windows Shot full of holes, the bones of this old town Ghosts in the alleys, rust in the hearts Of the few decent folks left around Down the street we used to hear laughing children on the playground Over by the elementary school And the rattle, clank and clack of that noonday freight out of Dayton You could set your watch by it, the old timers knew Those laughing children all grew up and moved away, or went to war Which is what usually happens if you're poor and otherwise adrift Those who returned mostly came back in pieces Their bodies and their minds and souls bereft Now how do you tell a young person who’s come home to the only home they've known Fresh back from some modern day hell That there’s no work no proposition no future around here No future - oh, but by the way - thanks for answering the bell Weeds get higher all the time Each day another hill to climb No one out there has any time for us around here We had a visitor once, few years ago Some old red-faced fat man come down from Washington DC Didn’t look to me like he’d ever missed too many meals While some folks’ kids around here didn’t have enough to eat Well he went on and on and on about the changes that were coming If we’d just be patient and bide our time We all heard between his words, though, something he never came right out and said Which was: You’ll get yours when I get mine Then he rode off in his big black Buick Tires hissing like god’s own serpent on the greasy street And we all knew as we watched those taillights disappear into the distance That we’d just been left to our own fate Weeds get higher all the time Each day another hill to climb No one out there gives a dime to us around here Home prices and interest rates aren’t the only things depressed around here Hell, just poke your head into any of the tatty neighborhood bars You can pretty much always find another unhappy soul to let you express your opinion As long as you promise to listen to theirs For the price of a pitcher, or two, and maybe a game of pool You can articulate, gesticulate, vituperate and pretty much hate everything that’s happening in your life But everyone around here tends to agree that it’s better this way than going home Kicking the dog and fighting with your wife I’d like to tell you all that this tale has a happy ending Some theatrically inspired uplifting denouement I‘m afraid you’ll have to come up with your own happy ending, to your satisfaction Because I can’t Weeds get higher all the time, each day’s another hill to climb No one out there gives a damn about us around here

Cocoon Don’t want to be no butterfly Don’t want to sprout no wings Want to stay here in my cocoon And think unhappy things Don’t want to flutter ‘round no sunny field Don’t want to ride no wind Gonna stay here where I’m safe and warm You all do what you intend Your sky’s so big and blue and wide It scares the hell half out of me I plan to stay right here inside Can’t you all just let me be I hang out with the beetles here I hang out with the crickets too So I’ll just stay here near the ground If it’s all the same to you Nobody pays me any mind Down there among the weeds And here in my cocoon I got all the friends I need Your world goes by so fast And it don’t make no sense Since I’m here all by myself Don’t have to think in present tense My view don’t ever change, it’s true Done ate up all the scenery But here in my cocoon None of that matters much to me Don’t want to be no butterfly Don’t want to sprout no wings I’ll just stay here where its safe and warm And think my unhappy things Right here in my cocoon Just let me pupate here in peace Here in my cocoon Why can’t you all just let me be

The Rest Is Up To You Jesus loves you even when you don’t But even He gets tired of you sometimes Don’t look to me to be your sacred fool Somewhere even you got to draw the line I can love you enough for the both of us But that’s all that I can do The rest is up to you A little bit of pity goes a long, long way ‘round here So I’m thinking you’ve got something up your sleeve You need another dose but it’s so hard to find a vein You can’t stay but you don’t want to leave I will love you enough for the both of us But that’s all that I will do The rest is up to you Our cells don't regenerate every seven years As some alleged doctors might profess We don’t have nine lives either, so it seems Better make the most of this one then, I guess Dance among the dragons, sleep with the saints Pray for resurrection if you must Come the dawn when you find the strength to stand up Confront yourself e’re you return to dust I can love you enough for the both of us But that’s all that I can do The rest is up to you

Sharecropper I am an old sharecropper, money have I none But I am rich in rattlesnakes, callouses and sun I am an old sharecropper, I dig because I must I eat my dirt for breakfast, for supper I eat dust I am an old sharecropper the seasons never fail Winter brings me blizzards, Summer brings me hail My wife was a sharecropper, we met in July September we were married, children by and by Two children by and by Fever took the firstborn, starvation took the last T'was grief that took my sweetheart, my love was no repast Love proved a poor repast I am an old sharecropper, I work hard every day Except for Sunday morning when I kneel down to pray I pray for my lost children, I pray for my lost wife I pray for all the others who live this kind of life I am an old sharecropper, only time will tell If I go to heaven or if I stay in hell If I stay in hell, boys, if I stay in hell Wave to me from heaven if I stay in hell I am an old sharecropper, money have I none But I am rich in rattlesnakes, callouses and sun

Rain Don’t Follow The Plow Heat rises in the dusty field Toil in the rows Pray for strength, pray for yield Sweat and grief and tears and woe Lackluster moon in a bloody sky Rain don’t follow the plow Some say the devil owns this land Many sow his bitter seed See here the workings of his hand Many hungry mouths to feed Lackluster moon in a bloody sky Rain don’t follow the plow False rain falls from the sky Carrion crows take to wing Not from heaven do they fly Baleful tidings do they bring Lackluster moon in a bloody sky Rain don’t follow the plow

I Love My Baby Sometimes I get to thinkin’ I don’t think near enough Sometimes the road I’m takin’ seems a little rough Sometimes I wonder if I’m where I ought to be But I love my baby and my baby she loves me Sometimes I get hungry for something I can’t find Sometimes I make excuses when I can’t make up my mind Sometimes I feel lonely in the middle of a crowded room But I love my baby and my baby loves me too Long and lovely, wild and free She gives all her love to me She makes me laugh, she makes me burn Never know which way she’s gonna turn She’s in my heart, she’s in my head Did you hear what I just said I can’t seem to get enough of her and all her lovin’ stuff Ooo ooo ooo you got to believe I love my baby and my baby she loves me Sometimes life is as clear as day, sometimes you’re in a fog Sometimes life seems as easy as fallin’ off a log Sometimes the lightnin' ties you up then the thunder sets you free But I love my baby and my baby she loves me Sometimes the lightnin’ blinds you - sometimes it helps you see I love my baby and my baby she loves me Yes I love my baby and my baby she loves me

’Til The Next You Comes Along Go ahead and leave if that’s what you believe I’ll be sad until the next you comes around You can go ahead and go if your heart is telling you so I’ll be sad until the next you comes along I don’t think it’ll be forever I don’t think it’ll even take that long ‘Til I’ve forgotten we were ever together I’ll be sad until the next you comes along Yeah I’ll be sad until the next you comes along The good times that we shared I guess they don’t matter any more I’ll be sad until the next you comes along Say what you need to say honey I won’t stand in your way I’ll be sad until the next you comes along I don’t think it’ll be forever I don’t think it’ll even take that long ‘Til I’ve forgotten we were ever together I’ll be sad until the next you comes along I’ll be sad until the next you comes along (B) Somebody gonna come knockin' at my back door someday Somebody gonna come shinin’ like the sun Creepin’ through my window to take my breath away Since you don’t want me baby I’ll just find me another one When you change your mind honey I might be hard to find I’ll be sad until the next you comes along So go ahead and leave if that’s what you believe I’ll be sad until the next you comes along Yeah I’ll be sad until the next you comes along I’ll be sad until the next you comes along