Song lyrics are included in order of titles below. Highlighted titles indicate songs with recordings attached including a couple of videos! (Click on highlighted title to go to song.) All lyrics and tunes by C.B. Hazard unless otherwise noted!

Aches and Pains; Age of Information; Another Man’s Blues; Bad Luck; Banjo Player; Bicycle; Blood and Smoke; Chairs; Close to You; Country Life; Credit Card; Day’s Store; Demolition Derby; Fading Photograph; Flying Rabbit; Glass Half Full; Hard Working Woman; It’ll Do; Just a Little While Ago; Keepin Something from Me; Life is Real; Living in his Car; Long Way from Heaven; Mexico; Moving too Fast; For My Wife; Objects in the Mirror; Old Place, The; One Story; Poor Martin; Racing Way; Reach Out; Secret Admirer; Secret, The; Small Town Life; Springtime; Still in Love; Sugarman; Taking the Long Way Home; Things I Don’t Know; Think About You; Turn Away; Up on the Mountain; Used Car Man; Virgin Skin; Wedding Song; Willy; Workin Man; Your Lucky Smile.

Aches and Pains

When I was a young man and in my prime/ I worked every minute, I saved every dime./ But now that I’m older and turning to grey/ I’m working even harder cause there’s more bills to pay.

There’s bills for the doctor, bills for the nurse,/Got to save for the funeral, there’ll be bills for the hearse./ Call to my banker to see what remains,/ He says my only legal tender is my aches and pains.

Chorus: Oh it’s aches and pains, aches and pains,/ Bad when it’s sunny, worse when it rains,/ Call to my banker to see what remains/ He says my only legal tender is my aches and pains.

Try to have a conversation with any of my friends/ Don’t even get me started cause I know just how it ends/ Talkin bout your politics or any sport’n games/ Eventually it comes around to aches and pains.

Chorus (with last two lines of this verse)

Well I can’t be too blue about the life that I’ve had/ There’s been a lot of good times along with the bad/ Still when I cross over to those heavenly plains/ Alls I’m really gonna leave behind is aches and pains.

Chorus (with last two lines of this verse)

Age of Information

I don’t really care what the weatherman say/ Sky’s either gonna be sunny or gray/ Still I might check it out anyway/ Check out the weatherman today

And I don’t really care what the Dow Jones say/ Don’t have any money and gamblin don’t pay/ Still I might check it out anyway/ Check out the Dow Jones today.

Chorus: In a particular situation, / You want to know everything that you can/ In an age of information,/ You want to have a solid basis when you take a stand!

I don’t really care what Billboard Magazine say/ Don’t think it’s gonna teach me how to sing and play/ Still I think I might check it out anyway/ Check out the top ten today

Break: Gonna check it out, check it out, anyway/ Check it out, check it out, any ol way/ Gonna check it out, check it out anyway/ Gonna check out the top ten today.

I don’t really care what the Good Book say/ Don’t think I’ll get to heaven no matter how I pray/ Still you know I might just check it out anyway/Gonna check out the Good Book today!

Break: Gonna check it out, check it out anyway/ Check it out, check it out any ol way/ Check it out, check it out, anyway/ Gonna check out the Good Book today!

Another Man’s Blues (unfinished)

All these books I never read/ Why put other peoples’ ideas in my head/ Ain’t gonna walk a mile in another man’s shoes/ Don’t need to be singing some other man’s blues

Bad Luck

Black dog jumping out across the road/ Both feet hitting the brake/ Forget I’m hauling this sixty ton load/ One last ticket to make

Big rig slowing but she don’t feel right/ Body start to shimmy and shake/ Light snow fallen through most of the night/ Just another chance I had to take

Chorus: Oh it’s bad luck all along the Golden Road/ Bad luck riding this hardwood load/ Bad luck up around every bend/ Smilin back at me…  just like a long lost friend

Workin in the woods I’m workin careful and slow/ Watching every step I take/ Wind shift direction and commence to blow/ Hope that hangin branch don’t a widow make

Chorus

Break: Momma’s in the kitchen making toast and tea/ She don’t like to eat alone/ Feeling full of dread and misery,/ Long before she hears the phone/ Before she hears the phone

Workin the gears, pumping the break/ Try to keep the load in line/ Hope I get it right for Momma’s sake/ Promised her that I’s be home by supper time

Chorus

Banjo Player

They got a banjo player on the Mungo Queen/ He’s the strangest damn picker that you ever have seen/ He’s got thumbs for fingers and fingers for toes/ And that right arm has got three elbows

(refrain) He’s the strangest damn picker that you ever have seen/ He is the banjo player on the Mungo Queen

He’s got thick curly hair and he paints it red/ He likes to play each chorus stand-in on his head/ And when the bass notes rumble up from underneath/ He likes to pick off the trebles with his wisdom teeth

(refrain) He’s the strangest damn picker that you ever have seen/ He is the banjo player on the Mungo Queen

Break:/ Well the Mungo Queen, she’s a shaky rig/ But for a banjo player she’s a heck of a gig/ They got pretty women and they smoke cigars/ And they do their dancing naked out under the stars

And when the dancing is over, the fun begins/ They balance chairs on their foreheads and their chins/ Carry on like that for most of the night/ Then they put on their clothes and talk all polite

(refrain) It’s the strangest damn party that you ever have seen/ Every Saturday night, down on the Mungo Queen

repeat first verse with changes below

They got a banjo player on the Mungo Queen/ And when he gets to picking boys he picks clean/ He’s got thumbs for fingers and fingers for toes/ And when he gets to snapping brother what he say goes

(refrain) He’s the strangest damn picker that you ever have seen/ He is the banjo player on the Mungo Queen

Bicycle

I ride my bicycle on the Town Farm Road/ She’s a big bicycle carries quite a load/ I ride my bicycle to the store and back/ Put all my groceries in a big grocery sack.

I start in riding bout the break of day/ Keep my hands on the handlebars pretty much all the way/ Keep my eyes on my mirror, feel the breeze in my hair/ When I ride my bicycle, I don’t give a care

Chorus: Bicycle you could learn it, I could teach you how/ Bicycle hook it right and you could haul a plow/ Bicycle people watch and I just let them stare/ Cause when I ride my bicycle – I don’t give a care

Now some folks would rather ride a truck or a bus/ That’s ok with me if they just share the road with us/ I ride my bicycle, don’t do no harm/ Gets me back and forth to the old Town Farm

Chorus

Blood and Smoke

it was on a summer evening,/ I was floating in the stream/ The air was filled with pollen dust/ And things were not what they seemed

First a silent flicker/ Then I hear Momma yell/ Little birdie tells me/ Evening’s goin straight to hell

Climb up on the side bank/ Gather up my clothes/ Feel no need for guessing (to speculate)/ Something in me knows

Out along the highway/ See the flashing lights/ Little birdie tells me/ Baby’s not coming home tonight

Chorus: Oh night of not belonging/ Oh night of broken dreams/ Now the air fills up with blood and smoke/ And things are not what they seem 

Mama sits beside me/ In this pale green light/ holds my hand so tightly/ to keep me from the fright

See the hoses pulsing/ See the fenders gleam/ Little birdie tells me/ Now we  live this broken dream

Chorus: Oh night of not belonging/ Oh night of headlight beams/ See the air fill up with blood and smoke/And we live this broken dream 

Chairs

How many chairs do you need in a house/ When there’s only two people sitting in it?/ How many hours would it take to explain/ Where all the years have gone?

How many stars will we count in the sky/ before we finally have to light an evening candle/ And how many tears will be left to cry/ When this old day is done, when this old day is done.

How many tales are we gonna tell/ Before we catch the meaning in it?/ How many times can we go to the well/ Before the bucket comes up dry?

How many promises can we break/ And still believe in one another/ How many chances are we gonna take/ Will we give it one more try? Just give it one more try

Chorus: Oh the radio’s playin and it’s do se do/ And you swing your partner cause it’s what you know/ Not thinking about the future, not living in the past/ Just trying to make the dancing last, just make the dancing last

How many rooms do you need in a house/ When all you’re gonna do is live a lifetime in it/ And how many words would it take to explain/ Just where all that lifetime has gone

All the things that we did just because we could/ And never had an earthly reason/ And all the things we always thought we would/ And then let that time go by, just let the time go by

Chorus

Close to You

I woulda sworn/ I coulda got close to you/ I coulda got right up next to you/ I woulda sworn

I woulda sworn/ I woulda known what to do/ I woulda gone sailing straight on through/ I woulda sworn

Chorus:/ All the pieces were falling into place/ And I saw that look crawling across you face/ And I thought I heard the calling of — redeeming grace/ I woulda sworn/ I woulda sworn

I woulda sworn/ We were goin for the ride/ We’d be riding side by side/ Come the early morn

Then by afternoon/ Thought it might happen pretty soon/ We’d be making love beneath the rising moon/ I woulda sworn

Chorus

Country Life

Makin hay when the sun shines/ Sweet liquor from the dandelion/ Walkin crooked but Im feeling fine (cross the county line)/ Its a fine life and its my life

Picking berries for the berry pie/ Stacking wood before the snowflakes fly/ Takin chances hope nobody’s gonna die/ It is a fine life and its my life

Chorus: Country living in country way/ Each country night and every country day/ May not be perfect but but I’m here to say/ I won’t be living any other way

Break: Its a land of milk and honey / but you gotta know how/ It doesn’t take that much money/ But you gotta smoke the bees and catch that cow

repeat first verse

Credit Card

It’s amazing that they found me after all the times I moved/ Still the letter clearly stated I was pre-approved/ Filled out the application what the wanted to know/ Company man said I was good to go

Chorus: Oh credit card, credit card/ Comes in mighty handy when the bills are paying hard/ Or when you need a little something for the house or the yard/ I surely do believe in my credit card

Started off modest bought a pair of shoes/ Didn’t want to be singing those credit card blues/ But after one purchase that was all she wrote/ Had to have a rototiller and a motor boat

Once these personal needs were met/ For my bride to be I bought a kitchen set/ Then I paid my dues to Jesus to the preacher on tv/ And I took a short vacation out to Hawaii – 

out to Hawaii, out to Hawaii,/ Yes I took a short vacation out to Hawaii

Chorus

Well now I’m living on credit and it ain’t that bad/ Beats the heck out of a lot of ways of living that I’ve had/ Sometime in the future I might have to pay/ Guess that’s gonna be my credit judgement day

Chorus

Day’s Store

Well if you’re riding up to Belgrade at any time of year/ For the Fourth of July p – rade or to chase the white tail deer/ As you pull into the village, right there beside the lake/ Among the galleries and the BandBs there’s one stop you must make

Chorus: And that’s Day’s Store, that’s Day’s Store/ They’ve got just about anything you could possibly be lookin for/ That’s Day’s Store, Day’s Store/ Hundreds of quality items, from the ceiling to the floor

They’ve got salmon flies and whoopee pies and Moxie by the case/ They got State of Maine Cheese, if you say please they might give you a taste/ They’ve got gasoline and peach ice cream and candles for the storm/ And if you’re lost and have the cost, they’ll sell you a Delorme

Chorus

In the Summer their hours are many, in the winter they’re damn few/ But even if you’re down to your last penny, they’ll see what they can do/ They got greeting cards for grandma, maple candy for the kids/ If you stop down to old Day’s store you’ll be awfully glad that you did

Chorus

Demolition Derby

Well the call went out about half past noon/ Demolition derby spotted to start pretty soon/ But they didn’t have quite enough cars to go/ Any volunteers was what they wanted to know

If I made the right decision only time will tell/ But that’s when I determined to start old Nell/ She’s been sit-in out back for fifteen years/ But the last I knew she had two good gears

Chorus: Demolition derby its a real good time/ Last one movin makes top of the line/ Don’t take any money or too much for brains/ Cheatin the junk yard in all four lanes

Well I fiddled and I diddled and I got her to cough/ Then I slammed down the hood and she took right off/ I couldn’t believe how sweet she purred/ As I worked her back and for the between reverse and third

Drove real slow all the way to the track/ Just to keep the local police of my back/ But as I rounded the turn and I heard the cheers/ It was alls I could do to hold back the tears

Well They lined us up and they rang the bell/ On fifteen minutes of rain hell/ We were smashing and bashing and gasping for air/ Til every auto body out there was beyond repair

Chorus

Now me and Nell were steaming had a prize to catch/ But in Sally O’Malley we met our match/ Sally’s Fairlane jumped a Rambler and she smacked a Cadillac/ And I could see her lining Nell up for a bumper attack

But just as Sally started on her final pass/ That’s right when the Fairlane started run-in out of gas/ She rolled up gentle gave my fender a nudge/ Who won that derby boys, be hard to judge

Now me and Sally we’re married with twins/ Not bad for a couple of derby might have beens/ Still every time I hear that bell/ My eyes get teary and I think of old Nell

Chorus

Fading Photograph

Feels just like the colors of a fading photograph/ Two kids playing in the driveway, you can almost hear em joke and laugh/ Bringing back a memory of a time that might have been/ When you and I were sweethearts, when you and I were sweethearts

Out along the highway, I can hear those lonesome pines/ Their whispering bringing back to me a love I really thought was mine/ Now I can only wonder at the feelings held within/ When you and I were sweethearts, when you and I were sweethearts

Chorus: Now memory is a funny thing/ A passion held a song to sing/ But I wonder how much truth does ring/ when you’re looking back across the years/ when you’re looking through a mist of tears

Well I still have the letter from where you wrote me your goodbye/ And I still read between the lines to try to find the reason why/ Now I can only wonder at the words you held within/ When you and I were sweethearts, when you and I were sweethearts

Chorus

repeat first verse

Flying Rabbit

Dog jump up a rabbit/ Rabbit he jump high/ Rabbit use his legs for wings/ And he climbs straight up the sky

Dog he howl at rabbit/ Neighbor he get mad/ Give that dog a lickin/ Like that dog ain’t never had

Dog he blame that rabbit/ Think him one nasty hare/ But nothin that dog could/ To bring that rabbit from the air

Rabbit just keep on flyin/ Flyin all over town/ Dog could only wonder/ What could bring that rabbit down

Break: What could bring, what could bring, what could bring that rabbit down

Preacher he preach a sermon/ All about a holy man/ Give up all his worldly wishes/ Just to reach the promised land

Dog he get the message/ Chasin rabbit ain’t no use/ If he ever gonna be a happy dog/ Just gonna have to cut the rabbit loose.

So dog forget about the rabbit/ Rabbit finally fly away/ Now although he have no rabbit/ Dog feel better day by day

Glass Half Full

Glass half full or half empty/ It can be so hard to tell/ They say that you can see the stars in the daylight/ If you’re standing at the bottom of a well

(fragments)

When the weather man says its gonna be partly cloudy/ Does that mean partly sunny too? (or the other way around)

When it’s finally time to take a man’s measure/ Are you starting from the bottom or the top?/ Lookin at the pain or thinking bout the pleasure/ Are you goin by the gallon or the drop?

Chorus: Glass half full or half empty/ It can be so hard to tell/ They say that you can see the stars in the daylight/ If you’re standing at the bottom of a well

Hard Workin Woman

Hard workin woman makes for a lazy man/ Even though he may be doin the very best that he can/ She works so hard the whole day through/ By the end of the day, nothin left for him to do/ Hard workin woman makes for a lazy man

She wakes up early just about the break of day/ She got the chores to do, most of the bills to pay/ He knows he should get up, he hears the alarm/ But could a few more minutes really do any harm/ Hard workin woman Makes for a lazy man.

Thinks he might go fishing in his manly way/ Though he secretly is wishin she’ll find a role to play/ She finds the path/ Down to the brook/ She rigs his pole/ She baits his hook/ She builds the fire/ She fries the fish/ And before he can say thank you/ She is washing the dish/ Hard workin woman, makes for a lazy man

One of these mornings he’ll be a step too late/ House has gone all quiet, why did he hesitate/ There’s laundry in the bathroom, dishes in the sink/ The front lawn needs mowing what are the/ neighbors gonna think?/ Hard workin woman she’s left her lazy man!

It’ll Do (or Ittle Dew) in progress

I’m here to sing the virtues/ of pure grain alcohol/ Your friends have stayed a bit too long/ And you’re down to your last call/ They’re drinking dry martinis and you’re out of Absolut/ With just a twist of lemon, it’ll do

Chorus (refrain?): It’ll do, ti’ll do, it’ll do/ With just a twist of lemon it’ll do/ If folks have stayed a bit too late and there’s no Absolut/ If they don’t read the label, it’ll do.

If they ask for Johnny Walker/ Just say black, blue or red/ And if you’re a fast talker/ They’ll forget what they said/ Just put ice in those glasses and a little pure grain too/ With a teaspoon of molasses, it’ll do

Chorus: It’ll do, it’ll do, it’ll do/ Just put ice in those glasses, it’ll do/ If they ask for Johnny Walker you can say red black or blue/ with a teaspoon of molasses it’ll do

And when the party’s over/ And the drinking is all through/ And there’s some left in the bottle/ I’ll tell you something true/ Its good on cuts and bug bites/ And a fine paint thinner too/ For a thousand household projects, it’ll do

Chorus: It’ll do, it’ll do, it’ll do/ if there’s some left in the bottle, it’ll do/ it’s good on cuts and bug bites/ And a fine paint thinner too/ for a thousand household projects, it’ll do

Just a Little While Ago

Seems like just a little while ago/ You were bouncing on my knee/ Trot trot to Boston and off to Mexico/ And Momma teaching you numbers, how to count all the way up to three/ Seems like just a little while ago/ We were making wishes underneath the wishing tree/ And some of those wishes really did come true/ Just a little while ago

Chorus: Just a little while ago/ Just a little while ago/ Knew it couldn’t last forever but even so/ Seems like just a little while ago

Seems Like it was only yesterday/ You were getting ready for school/ Feeding your pony on carrots and hay/ Jumping head first into the neighbor’s swimming pool/ Seems like there’s still such a lot left to say/ About how to hold a hammer and which cards to play/ And what song to sing when you’re going away/ Just a little while ago

Chorus 

Now you’re ready to head out on your own/ Start raising up your own family/ And sure I know that we’ll be talking on the phone/ And I can’t wait to hear those grandkid stories you’ll be telling me/ Look out a little farther there will probably come a day/ When those same kids they’ll grow up, they’ll want to head out their own way/ Maybe it’s only then you’ll really know what I mean when I say/ Seems like just a little while ago

Chorus

You’re Keeping Something From Me

I come down in the morning/ You give me a wink/ Even though I left the supper dishes/ Sitting right there in the kitchen sink./ You make me a breakfast/ Fit for a king/ Humming like a little bird/ Who’s trying not to sing.

Chorus: You’re keeping something from me/Some silly little something from me/One look in your eyes and its plain to see/ You’re keeping something from me.

Maybe it’s the checkbook/ Not balancing just right/ Maybe you and Mary Lou/ You had a little fight/ Maybe its your mama/ She’d like to come and stay/ Whatever it is little baby/ I wish you’d just come on out and say

Chorus

Bridge: It ain’t my birthday/ I didn’t with on a star/ Not looking for any surprises/ Tell you the truth/ I like things pretty much the way that they are/ Still I wish you’d tell me/ What that look in your eyes is

I make a little joke/ And you laugh right out loud/ And then I let that sunny smile/ get caught behind this gathering cloud

Chorus

Life is Real

If my life were like a house/ I’d run through the walls, make like a mouse./ Hoping I could avoid the cat/ Life like a house, imagine that.

And if my life were like a car/ I might drive fast, but I wouldn’t drive far/ Hoping I could avoid a flat/ Life like a car, imagine that

But life is not a metaphor/ Life is not a house with a roof and a door/ Life is what happens it’s how you feel/ So you better be ready cause/ Life is real.

If my life were like a song/ I might sing high but I wouldn’t sing long/ Hoping I could avoid the hook/ Life like a song out of some song book

But life is not a simile/ It’s not like a song with three part harmony/ Life is what happens, it’s how you feel/ So you better be ready cause/ Life is real.

Living in His Car

I have this friend/ He’s living in his car./ He doesn’t call it living/ But he ain’t driving ver far/ Has a sleeping bag and a mattress/ All rolled up in back,/ Folding chair and a Coleman stove/ riding on the luggage rack

Chorus: He’s living in his car/ It’s just the way things are/ He ain’t traveling very far/ He’s living in his car.

Now my friend he is working/ Over at the five and dime/ He doesn’t make much money there

But he says it helps to pass the time/ When his working day is over/ He climbs behind the wheel/ Off to spend another quiet night/ At home in his automobile

Chorus

Now sometimes I do wonder/ How long he’ll keep on living this way/ Wonder if he’ll ever get sick of tired/ Though I guess he’s never say/ Just the other evening/ I offered him a room inside/ He just grinned and said he was doing fine/ over in the Park n Ride

Chorus

Long Way from Heaven

Red seed dribbling all down my chin/ No way I can explain this crazy mood I’m in/ Hot sun beating on the back of my neck/ It’s a long way from heaven, but what the heck.

Chorus: Well it’s a long way from heaven/ Long way from Heaven/ Long way from Heaven/ But what the heck.

Break: In heaven they’ve got angels/ And the feed you angel food/ Nobody gives you any trouble, / nobody treats you/ In heaven they don’t make you work/ They let you laugh and play/ I hope I get to go up to heaven/ Someday

Sit back relax in my easy boy chair/ Pop another bottle of the finest Perrier/ Things are going better than I might expect/ It’s a long way from heaven but what the heck.

Mexico?

Moving Too Fast

I was riding home from work one day/ I higher than a kite/A police man caught up with me/ He gave me quite a fright/He said may I see your license son/I said, but officer, what have I done

Chorus: He said – You’re moving too fast/You should have gone slow/Moving too fast / And now there’s no place to go/ I guess for a time you were doing all right/But you shouldn’t have passed through/That red light

He took me down to see the judge/ To have my day in court/ The judge he looked like a regular guy/ Seemed like a regular sport/ But when I stood to pay my bail/ He said I’m sorry son,/ You’re going to jail

Chorus

My Wife

This song is for my wife, she’s my one and only/ Without her I’d be sad and lonely and afraid/ Through so many years of our lives, we have walked together/ Through all kinds of weather, come what may./ Now whichever way this old world turns/ As the legs get weary and the hot sun burns/ I will keep on walking/ Just as long as she is walking here beside me/ This song is for my wife

This song is for my wife, she’s my true my best friend/ I know I’ll love her til the end of my days/ Now even as the light grows dim/ And the last song left standing is the evening hymn/ I will keep on singing/ Just as long as she is singing here beside me/ This song is for my wife.

Objects in the Mirror

As I’m riding down the highway/ I’m usually thinking bout what lies ahead/ Will the traffic be flowing my way/ Will the light be green or red/ Then there will come a moment/ When a cloud creeps cross my mind/ And I wonder just what trouble/ Might be pulling up behind

Chorus: Oh objects in the mirror/ May be closer than they appear/ Are they coming, are the going/ Are they far or are they near/ As I take a look behind me/ These words fill me with fear/ Remember objects in the mirror/ May be closer than they appear

The Old Place

Up on the old place/ You won’t find much trace/ Of the life my daddy made there,/ There’s trees in the garden/ The cowshed has fallen in/ You might say the place could use/ A little care.

Climb up the side track/ Feels so strange to be back/ Think I catch the scent of smoke in the air/ Here children’s voices/ Making hard choices/ Is it gonna be truth or dare

Chorus: Up on the old place/ Wondering what a life here might have been/ With work in each season/ Don’t need a special reason/ To visit a friend/ Up on the old place

Guessing at all these things I’ll never know/ Remembering an old face/ Wonder if he’ll ever let me go

Daddy was a dreamer/ A planner and a schemer/ Long before he turned his first row/ He could see the seed sowing/ Feel the crop growing/ Notching up the profits on his hoe.

Now I see the old plow/ In my blood the know how/ Maybe I should give it one more try/ Then I hear Momma crying in the dooryard/ Don’t I know this life is too hard/ Well some dreams just refuse to die

Chorus

Now I hear the whistle blowing/ Time I must be going/ Don’t you know, I got bills to pay/ Slide down the side track/ Don’t think I’ll be coming back/ My heart grows to heavy up this way

Climb up in my Cherokee/ Now I’m right where I have to be/ Leaving all this dreaming behind/ Still I hear children’s laughter/ Guess I’ll hear it ever after/ And that’s what will keep the old place on my mind

Chorus

One Story

Come sit here beside me/ And tell me your tale/ I want to hear every moment/ Every bump in the bumpy trail/ I want to hear about the good times/ And about the hard times too/ And all/ about the place where you grew up/ And the things you used to like to do

Chorus: For we are our stories/ All we can tell/ Our hopes and our glories/ And a good friend/ Listens well

Poor Martin

There’s been a terrible accident/ Down on poor Martin’s farm/ Martin’s youngest son they say/ Has fallen into harm.

(Martin has made a solemn pact/ With his beloved wife/ No doctor will be called upon/ To save the poor boy’s life)

Martin has placed all his faith/ in the good lord above/ If his young son is to be healed/ Will be by God’s pure love

In under seven hours/ The poor boy slips away/ Martin faith unshaken/ Buries him the very next day

The police are suspicious/ They require the boy unearthed/ And this despite the protest/ Of the ones who gave him birth

They took him to the coroner/ Who declared an accident/ But the people of the town still felt/ That Martin should repent

So they made him stand  before the Judge/ Over at the county court/ Martin refused to testify/ None spoke in his support

But the judge he held for Martin/ For he could see his pain/ To put this man in jail for years/ Would serve no public gain

(The people were confounded/ At this unjust reprieve/ For Martin had rejected science/ In which we all believe)

The last time I saw Martin/ And his poor family/ They were walking in a single line/ o’re the bridge to New Jersey

Racing Way

Some days I think I’d like to jump these traces/ And start all over again/ Too many years, and too many races/ Without a winner’s circle at the end

But then this racin way of life/ Puts its arm around my shoulder/ And walks me back out on the track/ That’s when I know that as long as the timer’s clock is clicking/ there will be no turning back

Chorus: Better keep these blinders on/ Put my nose into the wind/ Oh where have all the good times gone/ Wish that I could start all over again/ Watching others pass me by/ Still hope that I might show or place/ Don’t you know how hard I’ll try/ But baby can I stand the pace, baby can I stand the pace, 

Pounding the track and these old legs start a screaming/ My heart is beating fast/ Thinking of you and this old mind goes to dreaming/ How long until my future is my past

Chorus

Break: Well its a racing way of life/ And its a crazy way of living/ Far too much pain and strife

For too little pleasure given/ Still if they turned the clock back and ask me what I say/ Id have to tell ‘em I’ll be racing til my dying day

(repeat last verse)

Chorus

Reach Out

Say it was an early morning/ Say that the sky was pale/ Say you got an early warning/ That you had better hit the trail/ Say that you needed a fast car/ Say your daddy had the keys/ Say that you were trying to be polite/ But you forgot the word for please

Chorus: Baby would your reach out/ Reach on out to me/ Cause I am here to give you a helping hand/ Whatever that trouble might be

Say the afternoon was boring/ Say there’s nothing on tv/ Say the old lady is snoring/ And the kids won’t let you be/ Say the screen door is slamming/ And you hate the buzzing of the flies

Say the radar is jamming/ And you’re just praying nobody dies

Chorus

Break: Trouble may come in every shape and form/ It coms in every size and way/ But you don’t have to face that trouble alone/ Cause I’m taking care of trouble today

Say that your faucet is dripping/ Say its driving you insane/ Or say that you were struck by lightning / And you’re lying out in the rain/ Say that the sky is falling/ Say that you’re about to explode/ Or say that you missed your calling/ And you’re headed down a dangerous road

Chorus

Secret Admirer

By now everybody knows that I’m a secret admirer of you/ I guess it shows because of all the crazy things you make me do/ You make me light up like a beacon just by walking in the room/ You make my mind go pleasure seeking, make my heart go boom boom boom/ Yes I’m a secret admirer of you

I love your sense of humor and don’t I love those longs legs too/ I love the way you tell a story even when I know it couldn’t be true/ I love the sound of your laughter/ The twinkle in your eyes/ I love the way the room feels after/ Babe I cannot live a lie

Break: Well like so many love stories this one has a bitter twist/ However much I might adore you, you don’t know that I exist/ Where everybody else is calling out this man is on fire/ You don’t even smell the smoke of my burning desire

Now I’m up here on the bandstand and there’s another turn of the screw/ Cause all the other guys are out there, trying to get the next dance with you/ How can I win your affection, I’n not even in the game/ Can’t make you look in my direction, heck I don’t even know your name

How come everybody knows about my secret admiration except for you

The Secret

Dark night cold, time grows old/ Everything stands still/ Headlight beams, racing dreams/ Frozen on the hill/ Don’t ask why, please don’t try/ To drag it from my soul/ It’s riverside, down where he died/ Fell through that dark ice hole

Words fly out, whisper shout/ There the secret hides/ Parting lips, jumps or slips/ There the truth resides/ Boy’s last words, the secret heard/ Then caught in crushing ice/ Meant to tell, just as well/ Having paid the price

Chorus: The secret howls/ The secret crawls/ It rattles doors/ It bangs on walls/ If I could let / This secret out/ I’d scream and laugh/ I’d cry and shout

Get back late, shut the gate/ The secret will be told/ Morning news, birdseye views/ Shiver with the cold/ Next day too, heart still true/ Loving past the end/ Meant to tell, just as well/ Having lost a friend

Chorus

Small Town Life

Well its a small town life I’m leading/ Don’t leave much room for sin/ Cause I got fifty neighbors could tell you/ Just what kind of trouble I’m in

If I should walk on downtown/ There’s a dozen eyes on me/ And even if I wander way out in the woods/ They got a witness behind every tree.

Chorus: Well it’s a small town life and honey its a shame/ They got small town rules cause they’re playing a small town game/ You won’t have to ask, somebody sure to tell you/ Just how every little thing had ought to be/ Yeah its a small town life, and honey ain’t it killing me.

Break: I pull into my driveway/ TIme about half past three/ I see my neighbor’s shade snap down/ And don’t you know she’s been waiting up on me

By six a.m. next morning/ The word is all over town/ I’m up to my old partying ways/ How will they ever settle me down

Chorus

Break: Well some days I think I might just move to the city/ See what it feels like to be free/ Someplace I could stay our all night long/ And won’t nobody be worrying about me

But then I think of Dale and Jerry/ And all my friends down at the small town bar/ That’s when I know, however much I might complain/ I probably won’t be moving very far

Chorus

Springtime

Waiting on the leaves to come on the trees/ Waiting on the peepers to peep/ Marking time with my fishing line/ Cause the river’s still running too deep

It’s plain to see life’s mystery/ Out on the wild wood floor/ There jumping jack comes climbing back, / Right where he died six months before

Chorus: In the spring/ Of the year/ Days are getting longer/ Hope following fear/ But in my bones/ I carry winter’s cold/ In each new season/ We can feel seasons old

Cousin Joan she’s living alone/ Winter took her man/ Ground still hard in her dooryard/ She’ll bury when she can

Shed no clout til May is out/ I can hear my neighbor teach/ Plant too soon under this new moon/ And your crop won’t summer reach

Chorus

Waiting on the leaves to come on the street/ Waiting on the birdies to sing/ Waiting on the sweet of a summer heat/ Waiting on the blue bells to ring

Walking along, sing a summer song/ But carry jackets against the chill/ Cause we both know it yet could snow/ And that poor robin kill

Chorus

Still In Love (blues)

I roll over in the morning/ Get my first good look at you/ Your mouth is wide open and you’re snoring, Baby/ But I want to tell you something true

Chorus: I’m still in love with you/ Still in love with you/ Sound just like an old buzz saw/ But I’m still in love with you

Then you tell me your ankle is hurting/ Ask me what am I gonna do/ I give you the sweetest old ankle rub/ Make that ankle feel just like new

Chorus (ankle just like an old turkey claw)

Break: People say sits a miracle/ Some say it just couldn’t be true/ That after all the fighting, and the shouting and the name calling/ I could still love you the way that I do

The you go and lose your eyeglasses/ I find them in just a minute or two/ And your smile lights up like New York City/ And I am still in love with you

Chorus (prettiest smile I ever saw)

Sugarman

Early in the springtime/ When the sap is running free/ It’s up in the sugar wood/ You’re gonna find me/ Up in the sugar wood/ Morning and night/ I’m making that sugar/ And I’m making it right

Chorus: Cause I’m a sugarman, a sugarman/ Make that sugar magic with my buckets and my pan

I drill my tap holes/ And I drill them deep/ Then I hang my buckets/ And the sap begins to seep/ Seep grows to a trickle/ Trickle rolls to a flow/ I pull my buckets/ Put the fire down below

Chorus

Break: Well some prefer the honey with their coffee or their tea/ But I’ll take maple sugar, leave the honey for the bee/ Some like granulated from the tropical cane/ But that ain’t the kind of sugar that we take up here in Maine!

When she starts to simmer/ Bring the fire up hot/ When she starts in a boiling/ Give it everything you got

Chorus (and you’re a sugarman)

Taking the Long Way Home

Taking the long way home tonight/ Giving my head a chance to clear/ Know I didn’t really need that last beer/ Taking the long way home

Hoping we can avoid a fight/ Know that I’ve given you every right/ Hoping I won’t have to spend the rest of this night alone/ Taking the long way home

Chorus: Taking the long way home/ Home to where my heart is/ Home to where my end and my start is/ Taking the long way home

Break: Said that I’d call and let you know/ I was all right but there I go/ Just got to talking, honey that was all/ Just let time slip away

Now I start to see a little morning light/ If I don’t hurry I”ll be running out of night/ Know when we meet I’m gonna reap just what I have sown/ That’s why I’m taking the long way home

Chorus

Things I Don’t Know

You could write a book with all I don’t know/ Things I overlook or think just couldn’t be so/ Things that I forgot or never heard/ Oh you could write a book

You could write a song with all that I get wrong/ Bout a thousand lines just sing it all day long/ Things that I leave out and maybe should have put in/ Oh you could write a song

Bridge: Sometimes its just a misunderstanding/ Sometimes I draw a total blank/ Think I’m gonna make a perfect landing/ But by the time I reach the harbor my boat already sank

You’d need a big suitcase for all that I misplace/ These things just disappear without leaving a trace/ I might recall a name but then forget a face/ Oh you could write a book

Think About You

If I had a dime or just a nickel/ For every time I think about you/ I could retire a wealthy man/ And not have anything I really had to do/ Except just think about you/ Just think about you/ Nothing else I really had to do/ Except for baby just think about you

And if I had a penthouse apartment/ And every room had a great view/ I wouldn’t care which room I was in/ Unless that I could look out at you/ Unless that I could look out at you/ Unless that I could look out at you/ Wouldn’t need a room with a view/ Unless that I could look out at you

Chorus: If I wrote a story you’d be the hero/ You’re the angel of my dreams/ And even if you luck were batting zero/ I’d still put you in the starting lineup for my team

And if I took a trip out to China/ Or maybe it’s to Honolu/ I wouldn’t care if they made me swim back/ Just as long as I was swimming back to you/ Long as I was swimming back to you/ Long as I was swimming back to you/ Even if my lips were turning blue/ Long as I was swimming back to you.

Turn Away

I knew this girl, / Just nineteen years of age/ When her father’s life / Turned a tragic page/ He put out the life light/ Gun in his own hand/ Trying to stop the suffering / In some foreign land

Chorus: Won’t you tell me why/ He turned away/ What were those last few words/ He might have meant to say/ What was going through his mind/ When he went flying out that door/ And just what exactly/ Did he go flying out there for?

Now this same girl/ She agreed to be my wife/ Thought we’d raise a family/ Have a happy family life/ But even as she said I do/ I could feel her turn away/ And though I know her love was true/ She was gone by break of day

Chorus: Won’t you tell me why/ She turned away/ What were those last few words/ She might have meant to say/ What was going through her mine/ As she went slipping out that door/ And just what exactly/ Did she go slipping out there for?

Now years have passed/ And I can only wonder why/ I hold back the way I do/ When I see how hard you try/ And before I grab my coat/ and I go walking out that door/ Please give me some good reason/ That I could stay here for

Chorus: Won’t you tell me why/ I turn away/ Won’t you give me some few words/ That I am meant to say/ And before I grab my coat/ And I go walking out that door/ Please give me one good reason / That I could stay here for

Up on the Mountain

Some people climb a mountain/ Each and every day/ So when they reach the pearly gates/ They’ll know exactly what to say/ What a fateful moment/ In this hour of sin/ If you should greet St Pete/ And don’t know just where to begin

Chorus:  Up on the mountain/ Will you know what to say/ Up on the mountain/ On that judgement day/ Up on the mountain/ Will your voice be heard/ Will you find an answer/ Will you sing it out/ like a bird

When Moses climbed the mountain/ He though he knew God’s truth/ But the children of Israel/ Were asking for some proof/ He brought down from the mountain/ What he said was holy law/ Scratching on a tablet/ Strangest thing they ever saw.

Chorus

Break: Up on the mountain/ Where the track runs high/ Where the trees get skinny/ And the moon sits in the sky/ Up on the mountain/ When the end is near/ Will you feel the courage/ Will you shake with fear? 

Some people climb a mountain/ Just to breathe the mountain air/ They like to feel the mountain breezes/ Blowing in their hair/ But some will climb a mountain/ To get ready for the night/ When everything they thought they knew/ Begins to fade from sight

Chorus

Used Car Man

When my working day is done/ I pack my tools, get ready to have some fun/ Walk on over to the used car lot/ Ask the salesman to show me what he’s got/ He knows I’m not buying but he don’t mind/ Cause he can recognize me/ as one of his own kind/ I’m a used car man

Break: My daddy always told me I ought to buy new/ Don’t need another man’s trouble come bothering you/ But then he’d look up at his review and say/ Course they don’t make them like they used to do

Virgin Skin

Down the road just pst the scenic view/ There’s an old log cabin, sign says Virgin Skin Tattoo/ And if you have the courage to walk on in/ You better be prepared to bare your soul / To the ink and pin

Chorus: Virgin Skin, Virgin Skin/ If you ain’t afraid you better think again/ Cause we’ll know every wish you’re wishin/ And be every sorry place / That you have ever been/ If you go rollin up you sleeve / Down at the Virgin Skin

Don’t bring no pretty pictures, no I love Mom/ No name of your sweetheart from the hight school prom/ That tattoo artist gonna dive down deep/ Gonna drag up all the images/ That haunt your sleep

Chorus

Break: Some people think they can keep their story hid/ Put their secrets in a box and just nail shut the lid/ But that tattoo artist he’ll find every last detail/ Picture’s so damn real, you can hear it shriek and wail

The images are strange, but you’ve seen them all before/ The monkeys and the sinkholes and the slamming door/ Well he puts them all together and it starts like you!/ Tells your whole secret story/ In that one tattoo

Chorus

Wedding Song

Here comes the bride/ Her excitement is showing/ And yet it is beyond the knowing/ Of anybody else in the room/ Except for maybe the groom

Here comes the groom/ He’s full of anticipation/ It’s this new family’s creation/ Forgive his look of modest pride/ He so admires the bride.

Here comes the bride/ Here comes the groom/ May their true love abide/ For many a sun and many a moon/ Here come their friends/ And all their family/ Each one a special wish sends/ For happiness and prosperity/ For happiness and prosperity

Here comes the bride!

Willy

Everybody knows a guy like Willy/ Seems like such a happy son of a gun/ But nobody’s surprised when that same Willy/ Turns out to be a hard case on the run.

Willy’s always got his arm around your shoulder/ Willy’s only looking for a little fun/ But look into his eyes and he seems a little older/ Like looking at the clock before the working day is done

Chorus: Oh Willy, what have you got to hide/ Oh Willy, are you really smiling in side/ Oh Willy, if we take a chance and go along with you/ Are we playing your fool/ Or will the joke be on you?

Willy’d like to borrow just a dime or a dollar/ He’s waiting on his check, it’s coming in next week/ He gets it from his momma, you be welcome to call her/ ‘Cept they got no telephone up on Cripple Creek

Chorus

Working Man

Working for the money, / Working for the man/ Work to make a living any way I can

Call me a working cowboy, or just a working fool/ No job to big no job too small/ Yes that’s my golden rule.

Working for the pleasure/ Working through the pain/ Working in the blazing heat / And in the pouring rain/ Just call me work in progress, sure ain’t no work of art/ No matter what the job is, / honey you know I’m gonna do my part

Break: I try to take a day off or just an afternoon/ But after fifteen minutes I’ll be working on this tune/ World in constant motion/ Good work so hard to find/ If I’m caught sitting on this porch/ I could get left behind

Working way past midnight/ Work straight through the day/ Work because I got this stack of bills to pay./ Work to please my baby, sure do hope she understands/ Only way to show my love/ Cause Honey I’m a working man

Your Lucky Smile

With a slip of the lip and your lucky tongue/ You sing the song I wish I’d sung/ You tell the tale I wish I’d told/ Bout how some run hot while others run cold/ Hey hey, hey hey, with a slip of the lip

With a flick of the wrist a coin is tossed/ I know you won, you know I lost/ Shake of your head, wink of your eye/ You’re telling me, big boys don’t cry/ Hey hey, hey hey, with a slip of the lip.

Break: How does it happen so easily/ Looks like you’re not even trying,/ I’m standing here both feel on the ground/ And baby you’re already flying.

With a hop and a skip, an off balance shot/ You take the game, take all I got/ I miss by an inch, miss by a mile/ All I got left, your lucky smile/ Hey hey, hey hey, your lucky smile.