Chasing Storms

Lyrics

Center of the World

Fell in with a semi headed south
It’s all I can do to keep these words in my mouth
Just let the motion smooth the lines in my face
”Bridges freeze before roadways” seems out of place

Out of place ….
Out of place

Flattened by the ringer
Rattled by the night
Now the sun is over to my left
Moon to the right
I won’t bargain with a devil
For the jagged side of me
I’m on the morning side of the mountain
Rollin to the sea

To the sea
To the sea

Let the words fuel this song
Let the sun fire the dawn

I can taste the promise
Of the salt in the wind
Hear the voice of an old friend
Who knows the miles I’ve been
Seed of a milkweed
Sand in a pearl
On this little stretch of highway
Thru the center of the world
On this little stretch of highway
Thru the center of the world

Of the world
Of the world………….

No Coming Back

Cards are blown across the table
Horses bolted from the stable
It’s no small change
No fences, open range

New country, ancient borders
Rare stones, forgotten lovers
Hope and desire
A dry wind to the fire

Let the truth be liberated
And love uncomplicated
Like the eyes of a child
Wide open clear and wild
Jump to the other side
Just across a great divide
A place you can breathe
You’re really not leaving
But you won’t be comin’ back

Revelation or denial
Rare flower in a broken bottle
It’s no fair trade
A full heart for empty days

Big show, little comfort
Little shade in the burning desert
You learn to forget it
A long walk where the shoes don’t fit

Let the truth be liberated
And love uncomplicated
Like the eyes of a child
Wide open clear and wild
Jump to the other side
Just across a great divide
A place you can breath
You’re really not leaving
But you won’t be comin’ back

won’t be comin’ back
won’t be comin’ back
there’s no comin’ back ……..

Drink of Water

Late night at the laundromat
Wrung out and dog tired
She’s got a baby in a basket
Asleep up on the dryer
She’s workin’ three jobs
Tryin’ to make ends meet
You can’t make rent,
You’re looking at the street

The daddy’s on the road again
He’s looking for a job
He struck out at the gas rigs
And they closed down the mines
He’s just too tired to call her
Prospects are looking dim
Bigger forces are at work
But they don’t work for him

Not asking for a hand out
Not cashin’ in their pride
It’s just that the boat they’re in
Ain rising with the tide

They’re turning up the heat, higher and hotter
People in hell just need a drink of water
People in hell just need a drink
Of water ……..

So she’s folding up the jeans
Folding up the shirts
Taking home the last load wet
Cause she’s a dollar short
Her mamma she can’t babysit
She’s shut down with her pills
There’s a pain to be numbed
And it’s spreading through these hills

Not asking for a handout
You work with what you have
If only things would just go
From worse back to bad

They’re turning up the heat, higher and hotter
People in hell just need a drink of water
People in hell just need a drink
Of water take me down where the rivers meet
Of water cool my brow and wash my feet
Of water…….

No Time to Lose

There was a letter on the windshield in the pouring rain
A train wreck of broken words ran off the page
I walked the river to the falls and back
thru every ghost town along those tracks
just lookin for some sign of you

We struck the last match to light a fire
and held a love together with some string and wire
trees broke in that April snow
lines down across the road
left us with no room to move
and no time to lose

no time to lose
no time to lose
to find the mercy in these blues
there’s no time to lose

So wind up your heart and let it go
And keep throwing sawdust on those icy roads
broken words are the poet’s gift
and that’s a riddle that I can live with
and all I need from you
with no time to lose

no time to lose
no time to lose
to find the mercy in these blues
no time
no time to lose
no time to lose
buddy there’s no time
to lose…..

Florrie Florrie

To the City of Light they shipped you out
With the Women’s Army Corp
So young and innocent
for this ragged edge of war
Still you seemed be at home
in this liberated town
decoding messages
to help shut the Fuhrer down, Florrie

Florrie Florrie
Enchante, that’s for sure
This war is a living hell
You are the cure
You’re a long way from home
But you’ve come to join the fight
Florrie Florrie
Won’t you dance with me tonight

I don’t know much about you
We had that one short dance
But I’ve not seen such beauty
In all of this belle France
I only caught your first name
Above that big band sound
And something about a childhood
In a mountain river town, Florrie

Chorus

As I taxi out to make my run
My thoughts turn back to you
It’s foggy on the runway
But the sky above is blue
The sun is glowing like an ember
Reflecting on the Seine
And if I can outlast this war
I’d like to dance again
with Florrie

Chorus……..

Chasing Storms

well my coffee cup is empty
as empty as the seat right next to me
and I’m somewhere on the road
on the way to Oklahoma out of Tennessee

hard dirt and dust
and a sky full of rust where it meets the ground
I see red lights flashing and
a long line of cars slow down and turn around

there’s a dark unholy shape
like a devil’s twisted cape
that I have to see
to find a way out of this place
between promises and fate
where she left me

Now I can see that twister comin’
so I pull up where a bridge passes overhead
the wind tearing from my heart
every tender word she ever said

all that we treasure
is pealed from this world’s brittle skin
and I can see it through the windshield
like a broken memory of what might have been

there’s a shadow on my mind
from a broken highway sign
that I can’t read
to find a way out of this place
between promises and fate
where she left me
there is a dark unholy shape
like a devil’s twisted cape
that I have to see
I’ll be chasing storms
cause it’s the only choice she left
that can set me free.