Joe Henry

That the revolution began,
I was in a hotel pool with another kid
And an Australian business man.
And nothing there would make you say
After all this talk, today would be the day...
Nothing but an upset tray
Left by the pool
This afternoon

An orange cup was thrown
From an upstairs room
A cherry bomb of giddy lust, I guess,
From a bride and groom.
And nothing there would make you say
After all this talk, today would be the day...
Nothing but an orange cup
From an upstairs room
This afternoon

I've spent every long summer
Just this way
Sinke my mother started making up their beds
And learning to look the other way.
So what's one more drunk businessman
Coming on to me in the shallow end?
Nothing there would make you say
After all this talk, today would be the day...

Listen:
What's another slogan mean
Scrolled across my TV screen?
What's another bride and groom
Locked up in a fancy room?
What's one more drunk businessman
Coming on to me in the shallow end
This afternoon?

I see in you an animal trace
That's quick in your blond and deep in your face,
Mine has been tamed; I'm shamed to pretend
When I'm this close to your animal skin

I remember when love was something I craved
Bot I settled for less and the comfort it gave,
For living is hard when real love begins
And it leaves heavy lines on your animal skin

Oh, let your arms make a deep night for me
Enclosing my world so I cannot see,
l'll rise with your breath and fall back again
‘Cause you bring me close to my animal skin
You bring me back to where I'd once been
When I'm this close to your animal skin.

You wild beasts and you creeping things
Get down in your place,
Down with all the absolutes
God's awful grace.
Who wants to see this coming?
Who wants to think you do?
Better to be blind when I'm
Falling for you

Go and tell old Pharaoh
His time has come about,
His pretty houseboys laugh and sing
As they're filing out.
They've set fire behind them
I see it burning into view,
High upon the mountain where I'm
Falling for you

All manner of abandon
Is just the thing we need,
Get ready for the country, boys,
The town has gone to seed.
The telephone live is sagging
With word coming through:
Put your head between your knees, I'm
Falling for you

I can quit this anytime,
It's just to help me sleep,
It stops the tiny voices
And strange hours that they keep.
Who wants to hear them bleating on,
And have to answer too?
Better to be dumb when I'm
Falling for you

So you ladies and you gentlemen-
Pull your bloomers on,
Swing up on the highest beam
And let the floods come on.
Who wants to be there wondering,
When the Wonders rage on through?
Better to say never when I’m
Falling for you

Please don't speak another truth out loud
Whatever else you do,
I only want you keep me lost in your cloud
I'll do the same for you.
Don't believe a single thing you've heard
Really, I'm as good as gold.
You don't need to sell me with another word
I'm already sold

If I give in to your open arms
Then you can think the worst of me
For pulling out my weakness like a charm
And making sure you'd see.
Love, when it's defeated, just remember
Can still keep you in its hold.
No need now to tempt me with surrender
I'm already sold

What was that, A lonesome battle cry?
Sweeping in upon us from the rear?
Like a child, I hide my eyes
And think I've disappeared.
Mercy, hope, faith and love and treason
Are trump as long as darkness holds,
I don't need to see the sun, there's no reason
I'm already sold

Take that noise out in the street,
This rubble out from under my feet
No rest for the weary in here,
And make a fuss, you're a volunteer.
These days, they lord above me
Growing mean as they grow shorter,
Like a flag on a closing border now...
Closing right behind you

In a crowd down off the hill,
Full of bloodlust and good will,
We carried pride above our heads
Like a flag we could cheer to wake the dead.
And when we could go no further,
And were drowning on a desert,
We raised our flag to follow the breath of God...
But it was blowing every which way.

I loved you long before I knew
Love is something one decides to do.
My vanity and fear conspired belief
That love's just a mirror for a thief.
So when you held me tight against you
And I mistook your heart for thunder,
And like a flag, hid behind and under you...
Who could blame me?

(When you held me tight against you
And I mistook your heart for thunder,
Like a flag, I hid behind it
Like a flag, I’m hiding under you)
Now I hang my clothes out to dry
Like waves of surrender, they fly.
The whore of this world looks old and played
Still she peeks from the alley
like a waiting bride's maid.
Laugh or bleed as you need to
Who of us doesn't know already?
Every flag flies like confetti now...

The ground wants you back
The ground wants you badly
The ground wants you still
Like some lover, so madly.
It pulls at your feet,
Gets into your nose,
Onto your bed
And under your clothes,
Loves you madly
So madly
Madly
Loves you madly

The sun wants you deep
The sun has a need
To take you in then
Spit you out like a seed.
The sun has a plan
You know nothing about,
In the dark when the light
Of your heart has gone out,
Loves you madly…

This floor has a lean
It gives to the side,
Where marbles and water
Roll and collide.
In the fashion of something
You think couldn't fall,
The floor tricks your step,
Throws you to the wall,
Loves you madly...

Oh, God loves a sinner
God loves a crook,
God loves you frail
And splayed out like a book.
God loves you bent
And weck at the knee,
When the lesser of you
Gets the better of me
Loves you madly…

Oh, my dear,
I’ve swallowed the moon,
And left it dark like a ring
Burned on a spoon.
But now all the stars
They fall around you,
And land at your feet
To light up the room

The sign of the times,
The rules of the road,
And our coat of arms all scream
That mercy gets old.
But your secret heart,
As still as bloom,
Waits at the door
To light up the room

Your bed is a drift,
It’s come loose from the floor,
The dead float up like dreams
I push them back with my arm like an oar.
But your face is alive
Like a nickel cartoon,
Shown on the wall
To light up the room

The siren on top
Of the library wall,
The stairs that give way
At the end of the hall;
The pawnshop pavilion,
The newspaper saloon,
All burn in your wake
And light up the room.

What can I write home about?
The water's cold, the pilot's out.
I keep my children out of sight
And my man never came home last night.

What will I learn to tell myself?
We're supposed to want for nothing else;
Just show the world a stoic light
But my man never came home last night

This is what we make of this--
The walls all smell like blood and piss.
And every book that comes our way
We burn to keep the dogs away

We'll tell this story later on
And tell of how it made us strong.
By then we'll know that we were right
But my man never came home last night

What will I learn to tell myself?
We're supposed to want for nothing else;
Just show the world a stoic light
But my man never came home last night

I can't stay here in my room
I can't hold my own against the heavy lean
Of your perfume;
That tries to keep your pillow down and low
Across my face
As if what lingers here of you could
Take my breath yet still be my saving grace
Lover, if you rise
Lover, if you go
Lover, if you rise
Lover, if you go

There are plenty who would just as soon
Settle all their debt with blond,
Beneath a whoring moon that answers
Every prayer for rain with flood;
And there will always be one more ready
Savior standing tall
Waving from the tower
That looks from here like
It will sway and fall
Lover, if you rise…

I’ve cut back your roses just to give myself a day
Free of vulgar beauties that I know
Will fade away;
The scene is like a circus chasing
Winners out of town,
Leaving here a wet street of mirror,
And I won't dare look down
Lover, if you rise...

In my room, things can change any hour
That I'm gone
Something will be an a shelf that I know I left
Scattered and undone;
One Small thing will be gone,
Or will be moved just so,
The smallest thing, after you, will be changed
I know, I know, I know
Lover, if you rise…

Aaaah come sit beside me,
That'll do for now
The night has come and left me
Just the light that you allow.
Come speak my name,
Fill my head with all such foolish dreams
My flesh and blood is no more real to me
Than what they seem

My love for you is burning
Like a sparkle along a fuse,
I feel your mark upon me now
As surely as the hand that leaves the bruise.
Life is for the living
And life comes hard for some,
The rest of us, with flesh and blood,
Make it hard all on our own

All I ever wanted
Was the freedom to refuse,
Or something of my own to love enough
To hate to lose.
The fever in my brain is leaving
Smoke behind my eyes
When the part of me that wants to change
Fights the part of me that tries

Now you see a golden light
Because I’ve turned a gold light on.
Sometimes, God knows, you've got to
Learn to shine shine shine shine all on your own.

I stepped out of darkness
And for a moment I'm only living by your kiss,
your kiss, your kiss, your kiss, your lips, your kiss, your kiss
And now, just for now our flesh and blood
Is no more real than this

More real than this
More real than this
More more more more more more more more more more more more real than this
Flesh and blood is more real than this
More real than this
More real than this
Flesh and blood
Flesh and blood
More real than this
More real
More real than this

Thought that bell was in my dream,
All in my head,
Until the trucks were in the Yard
And the fire was in my bed.
Oh, can you hear the ringing bell,
Telling time like time was to tell?
Can you see the smoke rise and curl
All the way from your side of my world?

Hush your talk, here comes the boss
Down off of his perch.
He walks the floor in cream-white shoes
Like we were piggin' iron in church.
Oh, can you hear the furnace hum
Above the shouts and all the chewing gum?
Hear the union priest lead the factory choirgirls
Singing out to your side of my world?

I could dance when I was young
And I was pretty good,
I'd do all the tricks and such
But back then everybody could.
I should have seen how this would be,
But nothing's true till I've seen it on TV.
Yet there you were, in your high heels and curls
Coming in as big as life, from your side of my world.

Let's pretend we've never loved
Let's pretend out' hands are clean,
Free of all the spit and shine
And the smell of gasoline.
Cause here come the planes and the tambourines,
The funeral march, and the beauty queens,
The circus freaks selling lemonade
From the back of an open-air motorcade.
Here come the heart machines and the baby shoes,
The ship-to-shore relay of the sporting news,
That mail-order brides --fake tits and pearls
All making way from your side of my world

The carriage horses stamp and fume
Until all color's gone
They leave the street in black and white
And bring the evening coming on
Lovers tug their way out of gloves
Out of shoes, and gray chiffon
The driver pulls his blanket high
And pretends to look beyond

Oh, pray for you, pray for me
Sing it like a song
Life is short but, by the grace of God
This night is long

Girls crowd into bathroom stalls
The boys smoke in their cars
The general, he's in civilian clothes
Standing at the bar
He waves at the deaf flower lady
"Come sit by me, sweetheart"
He draws a napkin battle plan
Says, "this is where we start"

Oh pray for you, pray for me
Sing it like a song
Life is sort but, by the grace of God
This night is long

There are no more hummingbirds
Like there used to be
They're fat and slow and careless now
They've turned blue and mean
And the parrots sound like monkeys
Screaming from the trees
As the decent people
Fumble for their keys

We used to spend the night in town
Down by city hall
And the water works of Irish Beach
Just below the falls
We'd walk down to the Park Hotel
Past the Baptist Veteran's Mall
Back then, a man in uniform
Might mean anything at all

Oh, pray for you, pray for me
Sing it like a song
Life is short but, by the grace or cruel heart of God
The night is long

I don't know you to wear a hat
But I came home late and there it sat,
You rose to show what hats are for
When living through a civil war,
When living through a civil war

Christmas mornings and New Years Days
They flood with dreams and drift away,
They cling to logs and cupboard doors
Riding out this civil war,
Riding out this civil war

Some fighters came and pitched a tent
And everyone around here, we went,
The fix was in, but we bet and we swore
From both sides of a civil war...

We build this up and we knock this down
We call our little mob a town,
We nail a sign up above the door
"God bless our little civil war,"
"God bless our little civil war"

Three dogs at a party an a boat at night
Play checkers in a lantern light,
They sing a song out to the shore
Of women, gold, and civil war...

Every truth carries blame
And every light reveals some shame,
Progress rides with thieves and whores
The stowaways of civil war,
The stowaways of civil war.

If you fear the angels above while you sleep
Then I'll be the blood, you paint on your door
Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep,
But time is a story and there will be more
Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep,
But time is a story and there will be more

And death and disgrace can seduce anyone
Who needs to believe there’s judgment at hand,
God may be kind and see you like a son,
But time is a lion when you are a lamb
God may be kind and see you like a son,
But time is a lion when you are a lamb

The years see the best of intentions and greed
They come without shame, they'll leave you with some
Men become old when their hurt becomes need,
But time is a lover and your time is young
Men become old when their hurt becomes need,
But time is a lover and your time is young

The sun is a soldier, out crawling the hill
Setting fire to every house that’s in view,
Lighting the ruin of my hope and my will
Till I’m like a shadow and I’m falling on you,
Crawling on you,
Oh you know how I do…

So sleep here with me and I’ll keep you close
For now while i try to live up to you,
You can’t see the challenge of this, I suppose,
But time is a dare and I’m trying to
You can’t see the challenge of this, I suppose,
But time is a dare and I’m trying to
But time is a dare and I’m trying to ( 3x )

I've seen the best
And the worst you can be,
And all while you're getting
the better of me.
You're fragile but wicked
And fleeting as breath,
And you move up behind me
And scare me to death.
You're fragile but wicked
And fleeting as breath,
But when you move close to me
You scare me to death

At war between all good intentions
And greed,
My love is the kind
Where want becomes need.
Where lust takes the toll
Of a quick stolen breath,
You stir within me
And scare me to death.
Where lust takes the toll
Of a quick stolen breath,
You stir within me
And scare me to death

A dose now of either heart or of mind
Can be lethal, it seems, if they're not combined.
They show but contempt when consideredas two,
And pretend that each is the other to you…

Now, you spit in your hands
And haul on the rope.
And fill up my cup
With the worst kind of hope.
You lift me with words
I haven't found yet,
I fall like your shadow
And you scare me to death.
I fall like a shadow,
You’ve stolen my breath,
You sleep here beside me
And scare me to death.
You sleep here beside me
And you scare me to death.

I saw Willie Mays
At a Scotsdale Home Depot
Looking at Garage Door Springs
At the far end of the 14th floor

His wife stood there beside him
She was quiet and they both were proud
I gave them room but was close enough
That I heard him when he said out loud

This was my country
This was my song
Somewhere in the middle there
Though it started badly and it's ending wrong

This was my country
This frightful and this angry land
But it's my right if the worst of it might still
Somehow make me a better man

The sun is unforgiving and
There's nobody who would choose this town
But we've squandered so much of our good will
That there's nowhere else will have us now

We push in line at the picture show
For cool air and a chance to see
A vision of ourselves portrayed as
Younger and braver and humble and free.

This was our country
This was our song
Somewhere in the middle there
Though it started badly and it's ending wrong

This was our country
This frightful and this angry land
But it's my right if the worst of it might still
Somehow make me a better man

I've started something I can't finish
And I barely leave the house it's true
I keep her out on my sores and joints
But I've guess I've had my blessings too

I've got my mother's pretty feet
And a factory keeps my house in shade
My children they've both been paroled
And we get back all the peace we've made

I feel safe so far from heaven
From towers and their ocean views
From here I see the future coming across
What soon will be beaches too

But that was him
I'm almost sure
The greatest centerfielder of all time
Stooped by the burden of endless dreams
His and yours and mine

He hooked each spring beneath his feet
He leaned over then he stood upright
Testing each against his weight
For one that had some play and some fight

He's just like us I want to tell him
And our needs are small enough
Something to slow our heavy door
Something to raise one up

This was my country
This was my song
Somewhere in the middle there
Though it started badly and it's ending wrong

This was God's country
This frightful and this angry land
But if it's his will
The worst of it might still
Somehow make me a better man

If it's his will
The worst of it might still
Somehow make me a better man

I waved to you as my boat was leaving
Hats flew up and everybody cheered,
But you turned as I guess someone spoke to you,
And in a sea of arms you disappeared.

I lived the life of a ragged soldier
The secretary to a rebel king,
He kept us drunk and hungry in a jungle
Tangled in the lilies of his scheme.

We gambled and we fought with one another
We had no code to give us unity,
Most died among us without God or honor
As blood became our faith and currency.

And all the while I kept your name beside me
I wrote it, but refused it on my tongue,
Believing you a song still there inside me
I feared your loss if ever it were sung.

I found myself at last upon a shoreline
I booked my passage home and stood in tears,
With a bag of apples and a forged passport
-The first I'd seen my face in seven years...

Now I wonder at the day when I might find you,
Appear among the living at your door,
Will you have a husband and some children?
Will we share a secret anymore?

Life is brutal to the weak and sober
Its powers of persuasion dark and grave,
lt pushes its way up to the railing
Then turns its face when you start to wave.

Lincoln Street is howling
It's empty, growing colder,
The night has come on limping and
It's bleeding from the shoulder.
Headlights fake a prison break
Of snow that rages and dies,
It's lost its will upon this hill
As one time so did I.

But here comes everybody-
The rounders and the nuns,
The poets sweeping sleeper cars,
The butcher and his sons;
Here comes the restitution
We'd all but given up,
This evening we're content believing
That love will be enough.

Air is what I need
But I try to breathe you in,
Thinking I can get at what I must
Beneath your skin.
Your veins are humming wire
Rushing fire to your face,
I feel it flush against my own,
A pulse that I can taste.

And here comes everybody-
The tyrant and his crew,
His most loyal traitors
And they whisper this to you:
Here comes the restitution
You'd all but given up,
This evening we're content believing
That love will be enough.

The fire escape is folded
Like the cradle of an arm,
Our dread so deep we've learned to keep it
Near without alarm.
But every fear is like the prayer
You've learned to shout out loud,
From your lips to God's ear
It turns the face of every crowd.

And here comes everybody-
The closet renegades,
The weary, hungry soldiers
From the children's lost crusade.
Here comes the restitution
We'd all but given up,
This evening we’re content believing
That love will be enough.

If anybody asks what's new
I say, "not much," and it's mostly true,
But when my stars align with you
Then I will write my book.

I turn my face from all the rage
Playing on the grim, dark stage,
But you've show me an open page
And I will write my book.

I have no time for what inclines
Their rhyme or broken reason;
The world is ruthless, shrewdly blind,
My oath to them is treason...

I'd never claim that what I'd heard
Was the first wave or the last word,
But your heart beneath my hand just stirred
And I will write my book.

I have no time for what inclines
Their crimes on every season;
The world is truthless, shrewdly kind,
My oath to them is treason...

I have no words to turn the tide
-Lights go out, and worlds collide-
But by your candle hopes abide
And there I'll write my book,
By your candle hopes abide
And there I'll write my book.

The song wants to repeat just now,
It sings itself to show you how,
It throws away its finest line
Just to keep the feel and time.
Just to keep
The feel and time,
It throws away now
Its finest line.

The word wants just to leave my tongue,
To turn your face, and when that's dope
I've got no use for what it proves,
It only means the way you move.
It only means
The way you move,
I've got no use now
For what it proves.

Close your eyes and shut my mouth,
The day has worn its welcome out.
It pats you down and cuffs your hands
And makes its bed right where you stand…

The prayer wants to believe in you
And does in spite of all you do,
It sings itself just like a song
When hope is weak and pride is strong.
When hope is weak
And pride is strong,
It sings itself now
Just like a song.

The thought wants nothing more than show
How little now you really know.
It burns then it turns cold and mean
Taking any offer sight unseen...

The song wants to repeat just now,
It sings itself to show you how,
It throws away its finest line
Just to keep the feel and time.
Just to keep
The feel and time,
It throws away now
Its finest line.

Darkness settles on the ground
And leaves the day stumbling blind,
Coming to a quiet close
And maybe just in time:
We'd almost lost the heart to know
How to keep our best in mind,
We'd almost lost the heart to know
How to keep our best in mind.

Time has turned an angry face
And throws a dark eye back to see
That what will pass for mercy now
We practice unforgiving.
As if might and will mode right
Or either one could make us free,
As if might and will made right
Or either one could make us free.

Lovers laugh and cross this way
Weaving out into the street,
It seems we never were so young
Or it was never quite so sweet.
But the world is always beautiful
When it's seen in full retreat,
The worst of life looks beautiful
As it slips away in full retreat.


God only knows that we can do
No more or lass than He’ll allow,
God only knows that we mean well
God knows that we just don't know how.
But I'll try to be your light in love
And pray that is enough for now,
I'll try to be your light in love
And pray that is enough for now.

(featuring Joe Henry)
(written by Julia Fordham)

Allelu
Alleluia
I made it through
The day without you
Just a day
Another day
But I'm on my way
For a hushed sweet moment
Everything made sense
And all my misplaced judgements
Were awash with innocence
For a hushed sweet moment
It felt like time stood still
I only know I love you
And that I always will
By the shore
Near the harbor
A distant light
Shines on the water
Just a light
Oh distant light
Guide me through the night

chorus

An Alleluia chorus
Rang out across the waves
I have not gone the distance
But I am on my way

chorus

Alleluia

Can you tell
Is that dog tied?
Are your hands that cold now
Or is it mine?
Time ago, it was on Meeting Street,
You pulled me close to you;
Now you ask “which way row here?”
Like it was mine to choose.

Cover me in the dining bell
Where the pool is standing still,
You told me once, I learned it well ?
There is nothing here for me,
Nothing here for me.

It frightens me
It could be so long ago
We first kicked rocks from here
Into the river below;
I guess I thought that nothing ought to move
Beneath my feet,
I guess I thought that all I gave to you
Was somehow mine to keep.

Lower me in the diving bell
And let me breathe what will remain,
And I’ll return your handsome shells
Though there is nothing here for me,
Nothing here for me.

The Aaron’s place is empty and falling down
I remember the night the roof caught fire
And you could see it from town;
We say goodbye on Meeting Street
Walking out together,
Knowing nothing could be any different
But maybe nothing could be better.

Raise me in the diving bell
And drag it up the muddy hill,
Let it ring and finally tell ?
There is nothing here for me,
Nothing here for me.