Lyrics – Dry Town CD

LOVIN’ MAMA

Late at night she breaks the ice
She might surprise me once or twice
I just smile ’cause it feels so nice

Early morning drinking tea
Pass that sugar bowl to me
Love is happy, love is free

My mama fills my heart with lightning
Fire so free, stars so frightening
My mama fills my mouth with honey
Sticky sweet, warm and sunny
Hey, loving’ mama, hey hey

What’s the word, lady bird?
Find a tree, fly so free
Sky so high, you and I

Give a tug, lady bug
Crawl up close, let’s have a hug
Love is simple, that’s enough

DRY TOWN

This lake’s been froze half the year
We like to keep things solid and clear
Snow’s on the ground since Halloween
Coldest frost you ever seen

Not a lot of love in a dry town
No bottoms up around here
Play it safe, call or fold
Don’t complain if the wind blows cold

We like to keep things safe and quiet
We don’t even lock our doors at night
Who would want to creep around
With all this ice stuck to the ground
Now there was a time you could hitch
A ride to the city from beside that ditch
Share a smoke, make a friend
We put all that to an end

They say that folks ’round here are mean
Now and then some bruises are seen
That’s no sign anything’s wrong
Isn’t it time you were moving along
Now dry your eyes, shut your mouth
Keep your fingers from moving about
Put your hat back on your head
Please forget everything that I said

Not a lot of love in a dry town
No bottoms up around here
Play it safe, call or fold
Don’t complain if your toes get cold

NICKELS & DIMES

Nickels and dimes, nickels and dimes
All my life it’s been nickels and dimes
Never seen any money, never hit my prime
All my life it’s been nickels and dimes

Bernice bends her back in the factory
Never gets a decent day’s rest
Sundays she goes down to the church house
She says thank the Lord we’re so blessed

Patty rolls the rig most every night
Coffee to go and a satellite radio
She knows more about this land of the free
Than all those clowns down in Washington DC

STRANGER IN THE RAIN

I don’t get respect sometimes
I don’t know what to expect
Doors are shut to me and closed as I wander down these roads
Left alone with loneliness

Maybe you can understand
Maybe you have seen it too
There’s a feeling that is cold
When your thoughts are worn and old
All you want is something new

There’s a soul pulling hard away from me
I can’t keep it closed up in my bones
I don’t own it, I can’t control it
Let it be free

I saw a star behind a cloud
I heard a sound, a thunderclap
I watched the ragged wind roll ’round, felt the rain come falling down
I just shake my head and laugh

There’s a thought inside of me
It wants to be, just to be
There’s a notion to be heard, it could fill your widest world
More than what’s inside of me

Well now another door is slammed
I’ll be damned, nothing’s changed
People struggle just like me, don’t know how they ought to be
Mistake a stranger for the strange

Well I guess I’ll turn around
I’m not proud and I’m not vain
Just a walk out in the night, nothing wrong, nothing right
Just a stranger in the rain

SWEET BY & BY

I might try some peace of mind
Al-hamdilla sweet by and by, I’m asking

Alla kaarim

I don’t know but I’ve been told
I’m walking tall and talking bold ’cause I’m asking

I’m so crazy

BREATHLESS

She looked good, diamond in the rough
Pretty as a picture, I think I’m in love
Is it any wonder, wonder at all
I’m breathless for her?

I think she smiled, well how about that
I think I’ll take a bite out of my hat
Is it any wonder, wonder at all
I’m breathless for her?

And all these schemers with their lifetimes to spend
They only treat us like fools
And all these dreamers with their lifetimes in hand
They only treat us like fools

I’ve been smitten, I’ve been had
Ain’t just another thirty-second fad
Is it any wonder, wonder at all,
I’m breathless for her?

STEEL GUITAR

A steel guitar swings ‘neath the floor of the school
Hard to be heard under oakwood and rule
Sit in your chair and try not to move
Your shoes will feel shudders from the underground groove

There’s a wormhole in a floorboard underneath my desk
Where it will lead me I scarcely can guess
It might take me knowingly nowadays soon
To see the night signs in the stars and the moon

Shining a light in the eye cannot tell
If the pain in your head is worry or hell
Speaking a word is quite the nice boast
But feeling it first is what matters the most
Blue is a hue and blues you can hear
Lie on the floor with your educated ear
Pulse and vibration will bring you the love
Of the steel guitar singing below and above

WHO KNOWS

Tyler’s just a kid from foster care
From God knows where since who knows when
So many homes, who could ever keep track?
Tyler stayed east when his sister moved west
Case worker said it was all for the best
His sister moved away and she never looked back

Who knows where, who knows when
He’ll ever have a family again?
Who knows??

Now Tyler’s got a job, he fixes things
Plumbing, heating, just about anything
No need to worry when something’s broke
Once a year he calls his sis
She never calls him, that’s just how she is
She sees him as a burned-up bridge, she runs like smoke

Tyler rents a room but he owns his own bed
He’s living with strangers once again
Just another stop on his way to only God knows
He thinks about the people in the houses where he works
Some of them are sweet, some are jerks
Sometimes people want you around, other times they don’t

Ask him about those people, this is what he might tell you
You start to feel lonely so you go buy a dog
Install alarms in your house, you buy a better car
You buy a better house if you can get the loan
You work on your loneliness all alone

Who knows where, who knows when?
Our neighborhoods and families and long-forgotten friends
Who knows?

GET MYSELF TOGETHER

Get myself together, I’m flying away
Whole lot of feelings coming my way
Don’t know where I’m landing, don’t know where I’ll stay
Get myself together

Stepping off the curb, stepping on the bus
Look at all these people turning into rust
Look at all these people at the skyscraper’s feet
I keep stepping

Walking on the sand, I leave my shoes behind
Look at all these college kids drinking down their minds
Look at all the honeys baking in the sun
I keep stepping

Thinking about my friend, thinking about my life
Think I might find a place where I can find a wife
Don’t have any answers except what comes to me when I’m thinking

I pull myself apart but I don’t know why
I’m tired of sitting underneath this sky
Looking for an answer, looking for a sign
I keep looking