LYRICS

Lyric Notes: I adapt the lyrics to songs to suit myself. I do it so I can sing them with complete sincerity, by changing anything that either doesn't feel right and I am not comfortable with, or to make it match my experience more, reflect how I feel. I won't change the spirit or the essense of the song, if I had to do that, its not the song I want to sing, and I have to write a new one. And of course, what the words mean to me may not be what they meant to the author, but they are words I want to say, a story I want to tell. With some of the songs, the lyrics are approximate, because I don't always sing them the same way, and in fact, I might include a few of the alternate lyrics or words in here even if that isn't an exact transcription of what I sing on the CD. Sometimes the words change to reflect different moods. I can't really explain it except to say that both word and music are more spontaineous than rote. I adapt and arrange them when I first take them up, sometimes with only a vague idea of the original, never really intending to produce a exact copy. Then if they stay with me, the songs change they evolve, have different moods, and reflect a multifaceted nature distilled from the best of a hundred spontaineous improvisations. Sometimes they settle into a flexible groove, like a well worn shoe. Sometimes there are a few specific versions, with different moods, almost different meanings coming from the same words. Other times they keep changing and growing, and are never really the same twice. I don't know if I ever really play a song the same way twice.


A HOBO'S DULCIMER
This dulcimer, it's maple and pine
it was willed to me by an old hobo way down the line
he donated this dulcimer with these last words
"before I pass over, boy, I'll show you some chords"

this dulcimer's made out of earth and of stone
and the sound of the railroad, makes you feel all alone
this dulcimer take a hobo back home

this dulcimer, it's sure full of sand
it'll play out of tune if there's a cop on the train
she'll sing you the song of the superchief out of Saint Paul
and that ain't all
this dulcimer can make folks open up their windows
like a warm bed on a rainy night
or a hex sign on a barn
this dulcimer 'll keep a hobo from harm

and this dulcimer's made out of barns and old watertanks
when the jukebox is busted and you need an old song
well this dulcimer'll take a hobo back home
yes this dulcimer take a hobo back home

A SATISFIED MIND
So often it happens, I heard someone say
"if I had his money, well I'd do things my way"
but little they know, well it's so hard to find
the rich man in ten with a satisfied mind

cause money won't buy back your youth when your old
or a friend when you're lonely
or a love that's grown cold
the richest of men is a pauper at times
compared with the man with a satisfied mind

once I had money, fortune and fame
and all that I dreamed of was my score in life's games
then one day it happened, I lost every dime
but I'm richer by far with a satisfied mind

chorus

when my life is over, when my times runnin out
my friends and my loved ones have gathered about
well one things for certain, when it comes my time
I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind

chorus

PACK UP YOUR SORROWS

No use cryin
talking to a stranger
namin the sorrows you've seen
there's too many sad times
too many bad times
and nobody knows what you mean

(chorus)
but if somehow you could
pack up your sorrows
and give them all to me
you would lose them
I know how to use them
give them all to me

(chorus)

no use ramblin walkin by the roadside
chasin that wanderin star
there's too many highways
too many by-ways
and nobody knows who you are

(chorus)

no use wandrin
walking in the shadows
seekin a satisfied mind
with no one beside you
no one to guide you
and nobody followin behind

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR AND
WISH UPON A STAR MEDLY
Twinkle Twinkle little star
how I wonder what you are
far above the world so high
like a diamond in the sky
twinkle twinkle little star
how I wonder what you are

and if you wish upon a star
makes no difference who you are
anything your heart desires will come to you

if your heart is in your dream
no request is too extreme
when you wish upon a star
as dreamers do

like a bolt out from the blue
fate steps in and sees you through
when you wish upon a star
as dreamers do

so twinkle twinkle little star
how I wonder what you are

RICH MAN'S WOMAN BLUES

Gimme red lipstick and some bright poppy rouge
a shingle-bob haircut and a shot a' good boo
lay it down sweet daddy, come blowin your horn
but if you come to late, well, your momma will be gone

well it's saturday night, got red shoes on my feet
my mind's in the right place, a tin lizzy seat
lay it down sweet daddy, come blowin your horn
if you come too late, whoa, your momma will be gone

come along young man, everything's settin' right
her momma's gone away, till next saturday night
hurry down sweet daddy, come blowin your horn
if you come to late, oh your momma will be gone

red rooster say cock-a doodle-do-do
rich man's woman say "any dude will do"
lay it down sweet daddy, come blowin' your horn
cause if you come too late, well, your momma will be gone

so gimme red lipstick and some bright poppy rouge
a shingle-bob haircut and a shot a' good boo
lay it down sweet daddy, come blowin your horn
but if you come too late, whoa, your momma will be gone
yeah if you come too late, well, your momma will be gone

EVANGELINA

And I dream in the mornin' that she brings me water
and I dream in the evening that she brings me wine
just a poor man's daughter from Puerto Pinasco
Evangelina of old Mexico

There's a great hot desert south of Mexicali
and if you don't have water you better not go
tequila won't get you across that desert
to Evangelina and old Mexico

and the fire I feel for the woman I love is drivin' me insane
knowin' she's waitin
and I just can't get there
lord only knows I've racked my bones to try to find a way
to see that woman
in old Mexico

but I met a kind man and he guarded the border
he said "you don't have papers, but I'll let you go
I can tell that you live her by the look in your eyes now
she's the rose of the desert in old Mexico"

Evangelina of old Mexico

FOUR STRONG WINDS
(chorus)
Four strong winds that blow lonely
seven seas that run high
all these things that never change
come what may
but our good times have all gone
and I'm bound for movin' on
and I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way

guess I'll go down to Alberta
weather's good there in the fall
I got sone friends that I can go to working for
still I wish you'd change your mind
if I asked you one more time
but we've been through that a hundred times before

(chorus)

if I get there before the snow flies
and if things are lookin' good
you could me me if I sent you down the fare
but by then it would be winter
not to much for you to do
and those winds sure can blow cold
way out there

(chorus)

PINEYWOOD HILLS

I'm a rambler and a rover
and a wand'rer it seems
I've travelled all over
chasin after some dreams
but a dream should come true
and a heart should be filled
and a love should be lived
in the pineywood hills

I was raised on a song there
done right and done wrong there
and it's true I belong there
yes it's true it's my home

from ocean to ocean
I've rambled and roamed
and soon I'll return
to my pineywood home
maybe someday I'll find
someone who will
love as I love
these pineywood hills

I'll return to the woodlands
I'll return to the snow
I'll return to the hills
and the valley's below
I'll return as a poor man
or a king if God wills
but I'm on my way home
to the piney wood hills

yes I'm on my way home
to the pineywood hills

VINCENT (STARRY STARRY NIGHT)

Starry starry night
paint your palette blue and grey
look out on a summer's day
with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
shadows on a hill
sketch the trees and the daffodils
catch the breeze and the winter's chills
in colors on a snowy linen land

now I understand
what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free
though they could not listen
they did not know how
perhaps they'll listen now

starry starry night
portraits hung in empty halls
frameless heads on nameless walls
with eyes that watch the world and can't forget
like the strangers that you've met
the ragged men in ragged clothes
the silver thorn of bloody rose
lying crushed and broken on the virgin snow

now I think I know
what you tried to say to me
and how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free
they would not listen
they did not know how
perhaps they'll listen now

starry starry night
flaming flowers that brightly blaze
swirling clouds in violet haze
reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
colors changing hue
morning fields of amber grain
weathered faces lined with pain
are soothed beneath the artists loving hand

now I understand
what you tried to say to me
and how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free
they could not listen
they're not listening still
perhaps they never will

though they could not love you
but still your love was true
and when no hope was left inside
on a starry starry night
you took your life as lovers often do
but I could have told you Vincent
this world was never meant for one as beautiful
as you

starry starry night

STEALIN'

put your arms around me
like a circle round the sun
you know I'll love you momma
when my easy ridin' done

(chorus)
don't believe I love you
look at the fool I been
don't believe I'm sinkin'
look at the hole I'm in
I'm stealin'
stealin'
pretty momma
don't you tell on me
'cause I'm a stealin' back
to my same old used to be

well I got me a woman
'bout my size and height
she's a natural lady
so you know she treats me right

(chorus)
(repeat 1st verse)
(chorus)

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

I see leaves of green
red roses too
I see them bloom
for me and for you
and I say to myself
"what a wonderful world"

I see skies of blue
clouds so white
the bright, blessed day
the dark, sacred night
and I say to myself
"what a wonderful world"

and the colors of the rainbow
so pretty in the sky
are also on the faces of the people passin by
I see friends holding hands
saying "how do you do"
but they're mostly sayin
"I love you"

I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
they'll learn so much more
than we'll ever know
and I say to myself
"what a wonderful world"
and I say to myself
"what a wonderful world"


Peace 
Brian



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