Stray Paper
I got a postcard
With an old address,
A picture of Houston
In a beat-up mess,
Just to remind me that it all went wrong,
Just to beat me up,
Just to turn me on
Stray paper, stray paper, stray paper,
Burning in my hands
Cigarettes in the glove box
With the classified ads,
Ashes and silver worn in to your hands,
"I got to see you" on a bar napkin,
Gas station quarters,
I got to see you again
Stray paper, stray paper, stray paper,
Burning in my hands
Somewhere there's a letter
That I never sent,
It used to read pretty,
Now it's empty as
That night in the headlights
With the blankets pressed
Was it something to you baby
Was it always just
Stray paper, stray paper, stray paper,
Burning in my hands.
Stray paper, stray paper, stray paper,
Burning in my hands,
Burning in my hands,
Burning in my hands
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Your Love Made a U-Turn
Yesterday we had a good thing going
I loved the way our love was growing
Thought I'd found love and affection
When you turned your love in the other direction
Your love made a U-turn
Away from me
Your love made a U-turn
Left me standing in the street
Now I wait all night long
Trying to see the way I'd go wrong
I can't see through tears in my eyes
Somebody please tell me why
His love made a U-turn
Away from me
His love made a U-turn
Left me standing in the street
Love, sweet love
Look what you done to me
Went away and left me standing in the street
You lift me high, then you let me down
You won't even try to turn your love around
Why did you make a U-turn
Away from me
Why did you make a U-turn
Leave me standing in the street
Every day I tell myself
Why should I blame someone else
I'm still standing in a trance
Hoping there just might be a chance
You'll make another U-turn
Right back to me
Come on, make a U-turn
Right back to me
Come on make a U-turn
Right back to me
Yeah come on make a U-turn
Well come on make a U-turn
Right back to me
Well com on make a U-turn
Right back to me
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Wait It Out
Well Josie walks around like she bought herself
Some brand new clothes,
Singing to herself swinging for the sidewalk Joes
She got a cousin down in Reno
Says the money’s coming fast,
So she's packing it up,
But her Mama says it ain't gonna last
Wait it out, wait it out
So tired of hearing that I got to slow down,
I ain't gonna listen to them tell me how,
I just got to burning and I won't stop now
Well the late night broken down army ain't got no wheels
He was leaning on an El Dorado just to see how it feels
He's got his hands in his pockets jangling a dollar in change
Leaving just as soon as he can get a job down in L.A.
Wait it out, wait it out
So tired of hearing that I got to slow down
I ain't gonna listen to them tell me how
I just got to burning and I won't stop now
Your love’s not sure,
Your heart needs time,
Take all you want
But don't take mine
Wait it out, wait it out
So tired of hearing that I got to slow down
I ain't gonna listen to them tell me how
I just got to burning and I won't stop
Wait it out, wait it out
So tired of hearing that I got to slow down
I ain't gonna listen to them tell me how
I just got to burning and I won't stop now
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Plainest Thing
I found a mark
Where the ink bled through
Under a song
I was writing for you
Crumbled up in a drawer
Stained with blue
Quiet and easy
What I wanted to prove
The plainest thing
The plainest thing
I walk right by it
It's just the plainest thing
The sun hits the floor
Same as shadows will
So I sat in the light
And I stayed very still
Heat on my skin
Bright on my face
I didn't have any questions
I didn't feel out of place
The plainest thing
The plainest thing
I walk right by you
It's just the plainest thing
I don't know how it works
I don't know how to say
I was thinking about us
It's the plainest thing
The plainest thing
The plainest thing
I walk right by it
It’s just the plainest thing
I forgot about it
It’s just the plainest thing
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Good-Hearted Man
I swore that I was living free
Oh, you couldn't talk to me,
And the pride that kept me, didn't want no company
Early morning subway train,
Feeling lost and running late,
Well, he held the car,
He gave his seat to me
And I can't find nothing
Feels so fine as loving
A good-hearted man
Oh he can soothe me, free me,
Oh I'm gonna marry
That good-hearted man
I told him that he'd better go
Cause I was crazy and impossible,
That my love was broken,
My dreams had run off wild
Patient as the easy rain,
Oh he never turned away,
Calling, "Hey sweet woman,
You know you're not a child"
And I can’t find nothing
Feels so fine as loving
A good-hearted man
Oh he can soothe me, free me,
Oh I'm gonna marry
That good-hearted man
Good-hearted man,
Now the night makes sense,
Because your tenderness,
It’s sheltering me
So I'm trading in that hothead kid
For a woman I can give to him
And it ain't easy, but I'm gonna do the best I can
For that good-hearted man
You know there just ain't nothing
Feels so fine as loving
A good-hearted man
Oh he can soothe me, free me,
Oh I'm gonna marry
That good-hearted man
Oh and I'm grateful, grateful,
Got to say thank you
To a good-hearted man
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Late Night Pilgrim
Rain like static falling in my eyes
Rain like static on the road
Rain on the loners and the regular thieves
Everybody else has gone home
If I could stay in your hotel bed
And sleep all day
I made my mind up a long time ago
Got to keep on weaving my way
Like a late night pilgrim
Looking for redemption in the underground
Lord, won't you help a late night pilgrim
When the morning comes around
You'll get dirty before you get clean
That's how a dream will go
And when it don't light like gasoline
Baby you're on your own
Just a late night pilgrim
Looking for redemption in the underground
Lord, won't you help a late night pilgrim
When the morning comes around
Sometimes, I am the fool who's dealing cards
To a ghost whose running late
Sometimes, the prophets
They are just like me
Can't do nothing but sit up and wait
With all the late night pilgrims
Looking for redemption in the underground
Lord, won't you help the late night pilgrim
When the morning comes around
Lord, won't you help the late night pilgrim
When the morning comes around
Lord, won't you help this late night pilgrim
When the morning comes around
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Ain't Looking Closely
Perfect sky,
The sun and I are going our own way
I can tell
No one else gonna know how to love me
But the wind with his hands on my face,
And the tall grass, Lord, how it shakes
All of my worries, worry ‘bout me for a change
Cause I ain't looking closely today
No, I ain't looking closely today
Like a river so wide, I'm gonna let it slide away
Long way off,
Someone calling ain't calling my name
Old blue jay,
Fly away rather than explain
Water carries voices and the devil may care
Me, I don't have an answer to spare,
No use in asking, I'm felling the same
No I ain't looking closely today
No I ain't looking closely today
I'm feeling so high, I'm gonna let it fly away
No I ain't looking closely today
I ain't looking closely today
Like a river so wide, I'm gonna let it slide away
Oh I ain't looking closely today
No I ain't looking closely today
I'm feeling so high, I'm gonna let it fly away
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I Am Your Tambourine
My body was sleeping
Sleep was a lie
Grab hold of my body
I will rise, rise, rise
My heart was heavy
Hungry and tired
Oh, but you're touch has made it
Fine, fine, fine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love song
Rattle me, darling
Way down inside
Fill me with rhythm
So fine, fine, fine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love tonight
I can't keep quiet
Oh, I can't hide
I want to shout and sing
And shine, shine, shine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love
Shake me with your love tonight
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
I am your tambourine
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Still Pretending
Hear you coming up the driveway,
I tie a ribbon in my hair
Look who's come to see me
Funny, you always end up here
But it's still pretending
And it's still wrong
And I still can't tell my heart
Why I'm still alone
Well I guess I'm supposed to lock you out
Well I guess I'm supposed to play it tough
But I see how you look at me
Baby, it always is enough
But it's still pretending
And it's still wrong
And I still can't tell my heart
Why I'm still alone
Barefoot in the kitchen laughing,
Till you leave, when I'll be crying
Inside the door I close behind you,
Wishing you would stay
But we’re still pretending
And we’re still wrong (so wrong)
And I still can't tell my heart
Why I'm still alone
Oh tell me why
I’m still alone
Oh why I’m still alone
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Laid a Highway
This was a town took care of its own
That's what me and my children have known
I worked the mill the way my parents did
I remember this town when I was a kid
Sitting through the movies twice
Open windows late at night
Slipping out in the summer heat
To meet Tom Miller in the middle of the street
They laid a highway a few years back
Next town over by the railroad track
Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by
Some nights, I sit and watch my hometown die
I'm fifty-five and when the mill burned down
I wasn't much past a pretty young gal
The boss lit a match in the oily night
Cops never had enough to set it right
So while the company traded with our lives
We were busy watching the slow moon rise
Dancing on the high grass ridge
Making love down by the Cedar County Bridge
They laid a highway a few years back
Next town over by the railroad track
Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by
Some nights, I sit and watch my hometown die
They never came to tear that old place down
They roped it off, but you can walk around
See the dust on the rusty doors
Watch the rain fall through the burned out floors
This was a town took care of its own
This was a town doing fine all alone
The mill got out a quarter to five
You could eat supper with any family you liked
They laid a highway a few years back
Next town over by the railroad track
Some nights, I'm glad it passed us by
Some nights, I sit and watch this mill town die die
Die oh
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Write My Ticket
This city must belong to someone
But it don't belong to me
From the window I got here
I count the traffic through my tears
Wanting to write my ticket
Write my ticket home
I got to get back in the arms
Of a man who loves me
I got to get back to the people
Who have always been proud of me
Take me back
I was wrong
Write my ticket home
Place called Suzie's and the waitress
She says, girl, you'll get used to all this
There is no way she could see
How much that cold rain gets to me
How much I've traded for a picture in my mind
I got to get back in the arms
Of a man who loves me
I got to get back to the people
Who have always been proud of me
Take me back
I was wrong
Write my ticket home
I can hear them sitting around joking
She talks so weird
Thought she’d come back broken
Well I had to drive
I ain’t so proud
I wish I was talking bout nothing
But I am now
I got to get back in the arms
Of a man who loves me
I got to get back to the people
Who have always been proud of me
Take me back
I was wrong
Write my ticket
Write my ticket
Write my ticket home
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Shadow in the Way
Before a word is spoken
Everything is broken
Even what you hid inside
The world has let you down,
Wrung shame out of your pride
But even as you falter
Like sunlight on the water
You shine on my face
The darkness in your heart
It's just a shadow in the way
Oh, just a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
When the fire leaves you
When no one believes you
And you give yourself away
To a stranger on the road
Who gives you nothing in exchange
Even when the door shuts
Even though the night cuts
Like a silver blade
In the morning you will find
It's just a shadow in the way
Oh, just a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
Oh, just a shadow in the way
Oh, just a shadow in the way
Though we're caught in the darkness
Don't be afraid
Though we're caught in the darkness
Don't be afraid
This world of sorrow
It's just a shadow
This world of sorrow
It's just a shadow
It's just a shadow
Got to get up again
And let the light in
Throw your tears away
That mountain looks so high
It's just a shadow in the way
Oh, it’s a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
Oh, it’s a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
Oh, it’s just a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
Oh, it’s just a shadow in the way
Oh, it's just a shadow
It’s just a shadow
It’s just a shadow
It’s just a shadow in your way
Oh, it's just a shadow in the way
It’s just a shadow in your way
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