Oh, shiver me timbers and pull my leg
It wouldn't be hard, you know
I once met a woman who told me, "Hey,"
You can't have a girl for the gold.

You can make all your millions
And lay Thee down,
To a rest only innocents take
But a beau shouldn't hope for another round
For your loves just the ice on the cake!"

I could tell she meant well... after a spell
Where I heard only cruelty and shame
All the earthly pursuits ("like Hell!")
I despised,
There was something from her I might gain.
Ha! There was something from her I might gain..

I'd been living a life of Riley and Gin
Where I'd open my eye to the day... 
Hell had no fancy for the bed I laid in,
But a friend in this man in its way
Yeah, a friend in this man, in its way.

Oh, I guess I'm still in, or counting out
For my plans are anything but laid
It's a bat to the face and a hand so sour
To be hoping for things from a maid
It's a piecemeal job (if you're paid!)

Now please don't be cruel, if I remember you
As the one who had these things to say
Life has it's way, from the red to the blue
From the beggar to fool, from the beggar to fool.
And Death has its way with Whom?
Amd Death its way with Whom?

There are yards filled with men,
So much better than Sin,
And the daisies and granite too
Though a whistlers haste, is a waste, just a waste

For it takes more than observing
Beneath the heavenly pages
 More than observing is due
 Lest the rock and the weeds request their wages
And shake down a widow or two
And shake down the very few;.

Lest the rock and the weeds request their wages
And shake down a widow or two
And shake down the very few.

Blowing West

First song I've written, since I blew West.

East of Albuquerque, now.  And, bless my family, for good.

Blowing West

Wasn't really hard;

Just a passionate faith?

Way back East…

Before I was placed.

You know it isn't easy,

You just smile.

Even if…

Now, you're saying goodbye.

Maybe I was wrong

All the time

Now I know,

I'm fine.

That was in the State

 I'd always lived;

And now I'm in the State

Where I can give.

Baby, you don't bake 

A bowling green vine.

There were plenty of places

That I would find.

I think it is better to be 

In this State;

Pack in New Mexico

And call it my place.

Better than to stick

In Bloomington's land;

Even where I was loved

As much as most men.

Maybe, I don't know,

It wasn't grown in my mind.

Once you go West

You're just going to be fine.

Now that I'm West

I'm going to be fine.

Maybe you're tired

Maybe you're worn

Maybe you can't afford

One that's five days born

Last thing said,

Is that nobody died;

Though, a good life fell

On them to try…

Now that I'm blown West

I'm just going to be fine.

Now, that I'm blown West

I'm going to be fine.

Unless You're Readying My Place

I was torn today, but I didn't stay
Down the stairs and out the door,
To the stars and stripes, that sometimes wave
But, if I have my way, no more

"You beat your boy, I know it Mr.
No healthy child will cower like that
I'll find you sometime in the alley, man
And you'll be screamin' like a cat."

I came on home from my school some nights
The air was heavy with her cries
I heard my daddy screaming, "What...."
The flag was still upon its line.

"You beat your boy, I know it Mr.
No healthy child will cower like that
I'll find you sometime in the alley, man
And you'll be screamin' like a cat."

By the time I was eight, I was second base
Most of the days of my life
And the times were sweet, when in a blink
I won the thing for the first time.

"You beat your boy, I know it Mr.
No healthy child will cower like that
I'll find you sometime in the alley, man
And you'll be screamin' like a cat."

The parents stand there cheering, making noise
The smell of cigarettes and grass
You see the arms around the other boys
You're thanked by strangers whom you pass

"You beat your boy, I know it Mr.
No healthy child will cower like that
I'll find you sometime in the alley, man
And you'll be screamin' like a cat."

Through the streets again in the fading light
There's a deep deep well where I'll be safe
Lord I swear to You, don't let her cry
Unless your readying my place

"You beat your boy, I know it Mr.
No healthy child will cower like that
I'll find you sometime in the alley, man
And you'll be screamin' like a cat."

Spilled Milk, A Woman and A Girl

Baby don't you cry,  (chord G)
Your Mama drives a real fast car (E, A-)
That Daddy wouldn't know how to steer (C,D,G)

Baby don't you cry, (G)
Your Mama knows just where you are (E, A-)
Babe, we know (C,D)
She ain't gonna leave you here (G)

Fate, and shame
Sometimes, was it love?
Back then I thought of no-one but myself

But now, it's plain
As the cloudy skies above
When I put my love for you up on the shelf

Woman don't you smile
I am a man who went too far, but
Did not a gift come from love that we forgot?

Your the mother of my child
And these wounds will turn to scars
What I treasure most, is this love I never  sought

Name, your price
I don't need her all the time
Just a happy girl when she wants her Dad awhile

And blame, me twice
For failing two desires
One for you and the other for a child

Babe is that a smile?
Your Daddy drives his bargains well
Your gonna get, whatever that you want

I know it spoils you child
But the damage has long been dealt
You changed my mind in just nine little months
You changed my mind in just nine little months.

Ashes to Ashes

"Maybe when a kids screaming, they're just the only one allowed to speak their mind."

Born of a mind
To take down the world
As long as my dogs in the fight
I wiped every tear
And  patched every hole in sight

I didn't need........ a flag or a name
Pieces of  pleasure
Or beautiful things
All those shadows
Just abstracts and
Art in my eyes

The long nights of living
In places where knowledge
Could kill time
Put me straight in the arms of
Souls just as hungry for dreams

And wouldn't you know
That the love and the wine
Brought fertile flowers
That  knew how to climb
To, honey
this future of
Your mama and me

Baby you're born
And daddy's too late
To dwell on things that might never change
So what
Maybe that worlds out of sight

I'm just a fool
Born in a small town
Shakin' off dust
For the future I'm bound
I 'spose
Rubbin my neck and my eyes

Still up in the sky
The future glows
From the pastures
Of of plenty
That everyone knows
Yeah, we're dust
But don't we look pretty tonight?

By The Eyes of My Customers

Sixteenth Street, a Liquor store
Always has enough for this all night game
By the eyes of my customers, they'll be back for more
Nothing else can help them to ease their pain

And I, walk that plank of shame
As I, say, "Please, come again."
I walk that plank of shame

Always had a thing for the easy load
Trimmed all my possesions to this jet black frame
And tonight while I rumble on the open road
My daughter ships out to the fiery gates

And I, walk that plank of shame
As I, pray for her again.
I walk that plank of shame.

My little boy you're bundled to your daddy's hopes
Waiting to be watered by the future's rain
Though the doctors words were a terrible blow
They were nothing like the look upon our neighbors face

And I, walk that plank of shame
As they, walk their kids away,
I walk that plank of shame

Sixteenth Street, a Liquor store
Always has enough for this all night game
By the eyes of my customers, they'll be needing more
Nothing else can help them to ease their pain

And I, walk that plank of shame
As I, say, "Please, come again,"
I walk that plank of shame

Encounter Down From Morton And Lime

I leave my door every single day
With my small cloth satchel underarm
Sometimes to the Church, to confess or pray
Sometimes to the dance hall to be charmed

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

As the light in the sky, still so early fades
You'd not be too surprised if you could see
The figure of a woman, walking just your way
In the dim light passing by it would be me

"In the Sweet By and By" above me play the bells
My mind is nearly taken by the tune
Though just before they're done the music swells
Through yellow light that I am walking through

 But not in celebration of enduring pain
It comes from where I walk across the street
For the fiddle and guitars make a different claim
And I'm smiling for the friends I'm there to greet

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

The crowd grows restless that they've yet to dance
In pairs they walk to the center of the room
When twinning fiddles have their way with darkness chance
What hearts of those assembled will refuse?

I took the hand of one named Johnny Bland
A sheepish sort of look on my face lies
As a witness from the window can see us dance
Out of four there is no blinking of our eyes

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

Some of the songs call to twist and spin
I hold and trust from him I'll never fly
Some of the songs switch me to other men
And they're clearly not unhappy in my eyes

Then the waltz comes at last and some people sit
While I look for someone that I've never seen
And who should approach but the perfect fit
For a girl who doesn't mind the touch of dreams

He'd seen me coming with his kind and gentle look
Sadness drained from his dark and tender eyes
He offered his hand which I gladly took
And I shivered at the other on my side

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

From a people that had searched over seas and hope
The fiddles found my footsteps in their sighs
I simply fell where led by the dark eyed bloke
With the light of every pilgrim in my eyes

It is difficult I knew, even then, to awaken
And meet, alone, the troubles of my day
The journey in the arms with him I'd taken
I feared would end when the fiddles ceased to play

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

The fears of every mortal being far from wrong
The dancing ended as the sun will take a dream
The players of the instruments meant me no harm
When tradition broke the heart of Harmonie

I pulled my new beau to the side of the floor
A place I'd never had a reason yet to be
And as entwined the hands of other boys and girls
I asked the dark eyed stranger who was he?

He said, "Since there we danced, I can hardly dismiss
The sad and watchful man I came here as.
My name is Billy Faren, and it's a pleasure, Miss,
To meet and dance, but might we make it more than that?"

"Harmonie Jennings," is my name dear man,
The answers, yes I'll walk with you tonight"
So we passed through the sound of the fiddles and the band
To a starlit street before the town folks eyes

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

We walked for a time that neither could discern
Amidst the woodsmoke, and other scents of life
So many dreams and yet what could we hope to learn
Whilst holding, there, each other in the night

We stopped beneath the lamp at Benders lane
And from his pocket he took his other hand
"Need I even tell you for what I pray?"
When with a touch and kiss he hoped I'd understand

"This is the house within which I was born"
Said Billy, sadly, to the shadows in the night,
"There's something I have yet to inform...."
But I kissed him then again beneath the light.

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm.
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?

Billy walked me gently in the darkness of the night
 Past an ending dance, where a last waltz sadly played
Past the steeple where the bells hid out of sight
Arm and arm to where it was my fate to stay

To part would be as silent as it was hard
So I simply turned from Billy to my home
There would be tears eventually even were we not to part
For till the morning... I  must now be alone

Wither my memory of sadness and pain
Banish my concern for my own harm
Passing by the church, I beg today
Can you see me to a young man's arms?